Fragile athletes, virgin pitchers and dangerous pies

First off, I'm a little peeved the Yankees' pie celebration has been unashamedly stolen by the rest of the league. Sure, the Yankees weren't the first pie people, but they rejuvenated the activity ... now word comes that the Marlins have banned pies because a player blew out a knee. Really?

Let's recap some other idiotic baseball boo boos:
Sammy Sosa's sneeze
Carl Pavano's everything, leading to a bad bum
Various wall punchers .. two Yankees on that list, Kevin Brown and now AJ Burnett
Kendry Morales jumping on home plate and breaking both his legs and his spine and killing six children in the crowd
Chris Coughlan tears a knee delivering the aforementioned pie

Tangential to this is Nats phenom Steven Strasburg was scratched from his start. Nothing major is wrong with him, but what is up with these fragile pitchers/players? Guys just shouldn't break down this easily.

I've watched two full Yankees games in the last two days. This is more uncommon than you might think.

That said, watching the Yankees swing helplessly at the pitches of a guy they've never seen is getting old. Last night it was Josh Tomlin, 25, making his first start. He went 7-plus and was helped by miscues, errors and some bad luck for the Yankees.

CC's start was good enough to get a win, but apparently not when so nobody kid is on the bump making a lineup full of stars and vets look like clowns. Argh. Maybe Girardi should bench every guy with more than a season of service the next time a rookie goes against them.

Flat brim should be outlawed.

This is the last time I say "Oh good, it's the Royals. And Bruce Chen. Yanks will score 15 tonight."

A win's a win but ...

So, Pettitte is injured, Hughes is shaky, Burnett needs anger management and Vasquez's puss, which is becoming Moyeruesque, is making the second half of the season and 2.5 game lead look awfully grim.

Oh, and the bullpen is a mess — only Robertson and Rivera appear capable of getting outs. Logan eats innings, but they're usually junk innings, Chamberlain looks like he's throwing BP. I'm not even sure who else is out there. Catino Mobley, Dwayne Johnson ... oh, Dustin Moseley. And then Park and Gaudin.

Granted, this is/was the Angels, and they always give the Yanks fits, no matter what kind of a team they field.

And now Ralph Houk is dead. When Sheppard and Steinbrenner died, I was asked who's next, and answer was obvious, but I didn't want to say. Then he fell before the old-timers' game and I thought, great, "I killed Yogi." But it looks as if the third was Houk, 90, who won 1,600+ games as a big league manager. Impressive.

Thanks Hideki

That didn't take long.

I actually said "That's too high."

Sadly, no responded, "Who gives a sh*t? It's gone."

Back from the break

I went to bed last night thinking the Yanks were in control. I'm gonna keep on thinking that, despite gagging up an 8-run loss like a cat with a bathing fetish.

As for this afternoon's game, Erik Aybar just killed the Angels with the decision to steal (try) third with 1 out and a 2-2 count on Bobby Abreu. Javy Vasquez couldn't get anyone out, couldn't get a swinging strike and was teetering on the brink of — you guessed it — going all cat-like with a 6-0 lead.

But Aybar gets caught and Javy gets the batter, survives — for now — at 6-3.

And Mike Scoscia is wearing the WTF face.

Good thing the Yanks won't need home field advantage to win the World Series.

Quick change

This morning I was going to celebrate David Ortiz's collapse in the second half, but instead, I'm stunned by the report that George Steinbrenner is dead.

Not saddened, George's relationship with MLB, the Yankees, the media, fans, everything, was up and down, love and hate. He wanted to win above everything, and sometimes his drive outpaced his brains. He built awful, expensive teams, in his absence, the Yankees built a dynasty.

When he returned after his suspension, his money and willingness to spend it, kept talent in place and new faces coming in ... for better of worse. Randy Johnson and Jason Giambi hearkened back to the days of Ed Whitson and Danny Tartabul and Andy Hawkins.

Steinbrenner's absence from the spotlight, he was always in it, and his virtual abdication of his throne to Hank and Hal, put some distance between the sadness most Yankees fans might feel. He's been gone for so long, his death doesn't create a void, it just makes us think about the things he did for the Yankees, the crazy things he said, the manager firings and rehirings, the feud with Yogi Berra and eventual reconciliation.

I guess now the only thing left is to mourn his death and celebrate that lunacy, the Bronx zoo George created, the championships he demanded and and billions he spent to get them.

Thanks George. You weren't the greatest. But you were ours.

Holy crap George is dead!

Only adults at a stadium who should have gloves are the players. HR derby or no.

From Albert Pujols: Hopefully he catch hot; take some pitch. Nice sentiment. Good advice. Still bored.

The best thing about Nick Swisher is the worst thing right now. Stopping hitting home runs!

HRD 3D? An additional dimension of boring.

Check that. First batter. Now two. Three home runs. Be fast, be merciful. For the record, my wife loves Nick Swisher. That's the reason we're watching.

Just suffered through Round 1 of the HR Derby. Taco Bell and State Farm are winning. Berman is subdued.

As good a time as any

Two good reasons to get this thing going again, if anyone is read:

The All-Star break and the passing of Bob Sheppard, the former PA guy for the Yankees. I call him that because there's nothing I can write about his status that hasn't already been written. So, in his honor I shall be clear, concise and correct about his service to the Yankees.

The Yanks are looking good at the kinda-sorta halfway point. Best record, a bunch of All-Stars, productive young players, a resurgent Mark Tiexiera ...

I'm a little disappointed Nick Swisher is participating and the home run derby. He's been fantastic in the first half, and history says those who try to go deep, go off the deep end in the second half. It was a relief to hear Robinson Cano was "convinced" to back out. But you get the feeling there was no convincing Swisher. It's his first trip to the ASG, maybe his only (maybe). So he's gonna live it up.

Hats off to the Yanks for spearheading the effort to get him on the roster. Incidentally, the wife lost count of how many times she voted for her boy. For the record, I voted four times. Having to input a verification code each time was annoying.