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MLB

Things Tend to Work Themselves Out

Since Joe Girardi got tossed from Wednesday’s game against the Braves, we all vividly remember why this Yankees team is so good. While guys are of different walks and from much different places, they’ve all come together as one close, cohesive squad.

The team shows great hustle, aggressiveness, desire, and savvy. All of those combined make for a relentless onslaught for the opposing team.

So not to sound insensitive, but the Yankees will benefit from Xavier Nady’s season, and potentially career, ending elbow injury.

Nady has been courageously attempting a comeback to the main roster after suffering a torn elbow tendon earlier this season. Several times it appeared that he was only days away from coming back to the Bombers, but each time he encountered a physical setback. Most recently, he left in the middle of a Triple-A rehab start; later learning that he would need Tommy John surgery, the second of his career.

For a couple of months, the future of the Yankees lineup with Nady has been debated. He would have to displace one of the young players on the team in order to fit onto the roster. But I, and many others, feared that decision Joe Girardi was bound to make. There is truly no one who can be replaced on the current 25-man roster.

Brett Gardner has heated up tremendously. He’s coming off last night’s 5-of-6 performance against the Mets. He launched a homerun in the 8th inning and an RBI triple in the 9th. That moved his batting average up over 20 points to .303 on the year. He’s getting on base at a great rate and is always a threat to steal. He’s 17 of 19 of stolen base attempts.

Melky Cabrera is able to play every outfield position and is defensively sound at all of them. Plus, he’s proven that he can hit late into games. Above all, he can’t be sent down to the minors; his options are used up.

Ramiro Peña has done an extraordinary job filling in for 2 hall of famers – A-Rod and Derek Jeter – in his rookie year. Cody Ransom hit well in his return. And the chance of Francisco Cervelli being dent down won’t arise until Jose Molina is healthy. Even then, Molina will probably be shown the door.

With an elbow issue, Xavier Nady was most likely going to be a designated hitter. Throwing from the outfield is how he injured himself in the first place and the latest instance as well. Adding him to that bench with Hideki Matsui, another DH without outfield skills, would create a lack of flexibility for Girardi in terms of lineups and substitutions.

Also, with the recent play of Francisco Cervelli, and Matsui’s propensity to pull every pitch, Jorge Posada could find himself as the primary designated hitter soon.

Even if a need at outfielder came up, I would have called up Austin Jackson from Triple-A Scranton before bringing Nady back. Jackson is an offensive juggernaut this season. He’s hitting .321 and is 12-for-12 on stolen base attempts. While he is a bit raw and may not be entirely ready for the big leagues, he’s the future of the team. Nady would have been gone after this season anyway. Jackson is 22-years old and isn’t getting younger. He deserves a few appearances with the Yankees before Xavier Nady.

So there is no spot for Xavier Nady because the team has been great without him. Every single position is filled adequately, and does not need any additional support right now. This creates less complication for Joe Girardi and the Yankees staff, and gives them more time to think about important issues – like Chien Ming-Wang.

MMA

The Gina Carano Conundrum…

Yes! Bringing back the old titles in new and exciting ways. Let’s see if anyone from Sherdog or somewhere calls me an idiot for using it.

Anyway, Sherdog’s Loretta Hunt just wrote an interesting mailbag piece about the effect that Gina Carano is going to have on the sport of MMA in the next few months. It’s a good piece where Hunt takes a very traditional, reporter-esque point of view. She basically says she’s here, and there ain’t nothing we can do about it.

I find myself in a great deal of confusion about how this is going to end. At my heart, I’m someone who always believes in equality and that women should be able to do the exact same things as men and not be given any grief for doing so. However, part of me wonders about the “new breed” of fan that she is going to bring.

Let me tell you a story about a guy I used to work with. I saw him searching Gina Carano’s name on google one day, and I got excited because I that I had a co-worker who was into MMA. Turns out, he was, and it was because of Gina. That’s totally cool. In fact, if thats what it takes to get people to see the light, then great. More power to her. However, if you are one of these people and it takes a hot woman to bring you to this side of the fence, then maybe time to start looking at yourself in the mirror. What? Do you make all your decisions by looking around for hot chicks?

Anyway, for the first few days, I started out slow when it came to talking about fights with him. However, I had a strange feeling that for the most part he had no idea what in god’s name I was talking about. So, I asked him the most basic question I could think of asking any MMA fan at that time: “Hey, you watching St.Pierre v. Penn this weekend?” He looked at me like I had just shot his cat. Like he had never heard of the two best fighters in the world (arguably.) I was appalled.

It got worse when I got a text message from him later saying: “Forget that fight, Fedor v. Andrei Arlovski is the one you should be watching.” Wow. This man is hopeless. Don’t get me a wrong, that’s not a terrible fight, but we all knew what was going to happen. Fedor was going to wipe the floor with Captain Glass-Jaw. There was no doubt about it whatsoever. Meanwhile, GSP v. Penn was being billed as a fight that no one will ever forget. Hell, B.J. Penn won’t. He’s still woozy. (Subtle dig at Jason’s BJ Fandom.)

Anyway, the point is this guy had no idea what he was talking about. When I thought about why, I looked back at the way that both he and I got into the sport. After watching Hughes v. Gracie, Jason nutured me by explaining the natural order of the MMA world and I did my own research on sites like Sherdog and MMAweekly. This guy just saw a hot chick and wanted to stare at her.

I can’t blame Gina Carano for people like that, but I can certainly think that guys like this one might become more commonplace as she becomes popular. She’s a great fighter, but I think that her beauty is a terrible reason for people to start watching a sport.

NHL

Speechless

I don’t really know how to explain the emotions that come with the Islanders taking John Tavares with the first overall pick.
This is as much as I know right now. We broke out a bottle of champagne in the parking lot after the pick was made. As people looked on, half mocking us, half admiring us, we said that this was our Stanley Cup. And I stand by that. Like I said earlier, we don’t dream of Stanley Cups, just the chance to be relevant again. After tonight, we’ve earned that right.
I’m watching the Draft on DVR right now, and I can hardly believe my ears as the hosts praise the Islanders. I’ll admit, I don’t know much about Calvin De Haan. But the moves that led to his drafting were made with house money. All of that moving down last year set the pieces for this year’s activity. If it doesn’t work out, it’s okay. The story for tonight is Tavares.
The pick was made six hours ago, and I still can’t believe it. For once, the Islanders are the talk of the NHL, but for all the right reasons. If this is as good as it gets, I’ll take it.
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