Imperial Rants And Notes

Before I get into my rant, I promised Imperial Vixen Vicki that I would post this message to the Infidel scum named Fenwayparked who posts comments from time to time on my blog.

Your hatred must be effecting your ability to write and spell, fenwayparked. It's good that your name is fenwayparkED, but it's in the past tense, just like your championship. As has been said before, when you string together four in a row you might have earned your bragging rights. One in 86 years is nuttin,' honey.

Well said, Vicki. Well said. Don't know if you guys read this. But this was in Monday's Daily News.

The mother of Yankee star Alex Rodriguez is defending her son's poor playoff performance, saying the slugger was secretly grieving over the death of his uncle.
"I know how much he suffered from the death of his uncle without being able to do anything, from listening to me crying and not being able to be there," A-Rod's mother, Lourdes Navarro, told the Dominican Republic newspaper Listin.

Rodriguez's uncle, Augusto Bolivar Navarro, died in a Miami hospital Sept. 30, a day before the Yankees clinched a playoff berth by winning their division.

Lourdes Navarro said her brother was like a father to the Bombers' All-Star third baseman, whose biological father abandoned him as a child.

As the Yankees prepared to take on the Los Angeles Angels in the playoff, Navarro said her son was privately hurting as relatives in Santo Domingo prepared to bury Augusto Navarro. She said Rodriguez kept the death quiet because he did not want to distract the Yanks during the critical part of their season.

"We buried him in Santo Domingo. ...[Alex] didn't see him. Alex has a very high sense of responsibility to his job," Navarro said.

She said Rodriguez spoke on the phone for three hours with his uncle, who raised him from the age of 8, the day before he died. His last words to his uncle were, "I know you will be in a better place and that we'll be together," the mother said.

"I only know about Alex's heart," she added. "He is a sentimental man, a very sentimental man who sometimes lights up like a little boy. Everything that happened, he handled it with professionalism."

Rodriguez, who boasted a .321 batting average and had 48 homers during the regular season, struggled at the plate against the Angels, hitting only .133 with no runs batted in. He was roundly criticized by fans for the Yankees' early exit from the playoffs.

The $25 million-a-year player made no excuses, apologizing to his coaches after the Yanks were eliminated from the playoffs, saying, "I played like a dog." But Rodriguez apparently never let on that he was torn up inside.

"He suffered in silence," Navarro said.

"I would like ... for the baseball fans to know that my son is a great human being, that they're seeing a human and not a robot, that he can fail, especially when there are reasons like this," Navarro said.

Calls to Rodriguez's spokesman were not returned last night.

The abandonment by his biological father, Victor, scarred A-Rod, and it's one of the subjects he has addressed during thetherapy sessions he began as an adult.

During an interview with the Daily News earlier this season, he said he "wished [he] had therapy as a kid" because of what he endured.

"Whatever his true reasons for leaving and not staying in touch, I can forgive him," he wrote in his children's book entitled "Hit a Grand Slam."

"I have to let go of that anger to move forward. The problem is, I can't forget what he did."

Alex, you need to put a muzzle on your mom. She sure as hell isn't helping your cause. Let me be blunt. Noone in the empire cares about your dead uncle after your putrid performance against the Angels. I mourn for your loss, Alex. Really I do. But for your mother to attempt to make excuse for your non-performance by using the death of a family member isn't going to help your cause with Yankee fans. This is a team that's had to deal with more tragedy then most. And yet they've always persevered and triumphed for the most part. Even though it wasn't you that brought it up. After seeing Pujols keep his team alive on Monday, the last thing, we want to hear is that you were playing with a grieving heart. Mo pitched on the same day he buried two relatives in Panama last October. For $25 million a year, nobody is going to care about your uncle. You did the right thing and fell on your sword after the playoffs. Don't let your mom taint your already damaged image and reputation.

This would be an interesting move with Mel gone....

NEW YORK (AP) The New York Yankees have gotten permission from the Atlanta Braves to speak with pitching coach Leo Mazzone. General manager Brian Cashman still has not determined whether he will sign a new deal or leave when his current contract expires at the end of the month. And manager Joe Torre hasn't spoken publicly since New York was eliminated from the playoffs by the Anaheim Angels.
Contacted Monday, Cashman declined comment on his status, saying nothing has been decided.
But the Yankees do know they will need a new pitching coach. Mel Stottlemyre, who has held the job since Torre took over after the 1995 season, says he's not returning.
A Braves spokesman would not comment on Mazzone. A message left at Mazzone's home in Atlanta was not immediately returned.
Mazzone rebuffed interest from the New York Mets after the 2002 season, signing a new deal with the Braves that included a significant pay increase.
Mazzone, who turned 57 Sunday, has been with the Braves organization since 1979.

Mazzone would add an interesting dynamic to the team. He's probably the best pitching coach in the game. Two things that might impede his departure from Dixie. First, is money. Mel made about twice as much as Leo. Mazzone might want Mel money to come to NYC. The other is comfort. Why leave a great situation to come to a potential maelstrom? This is a situation worth watching.


Here's one from the absurd and ridiculous file...

New York Mets reliever Felix Heredia was suspended for the first 10 days of next season for violating baseball's steroids policy.
Heredia became the 11th major league player suspended for steroids. The announcement came Tuesday.
Traded from the Yankees to the Mets during the offseason, Heredia appeared in only three games before going on the disabled list in April with a strained left thumb. Doctors then found an aneurysm in his left shoulder after he began having circulation problems and he missed the rest of the season following surgery.
Heredia is 28-19 with six saves in 511 career games all but two in relief.

You need to take steroids to suck as bad as Felix did? Wow, playing baseball is more difficult than I thought. This guy couldn't throw a strike if you walked the ball to home plate and handed it to the catcher. And he was on the juice?? Wow.

More to come later....