REPORT: AUGUST 16, 1977 WINS FANTASY LEAGUE

Feel free to post congratulations, well-wishes and messages of awe and appreciation in the comment section.

Playoff Berth Clinched, Bonds' 756th branded with Asterisk

It was a good week for baseball, as the title of this post implies. Did anyone see the Yankees post game last night. What great stuff. Cano, Chamberlain, Ramirez, Betemit, and Abreu all carrying on, laughing, just jubilant! The resurgence of this Yankee team really choked up Torre too. At one point he was crying on the air, after it was mentioned (by Pam Oliver) that the guys had said, "It was his Yankee team," and that he "was responsible for their success." Something like that anyway.

Of course Joba and Melky were in plain view guzzling Michelobs and Andre Champagne, but who gives a fuck.

Win Out

Tonight is certainly a must win, but I think we need to win-out to win the division in regulation.

This is a tough situation, and I hope Joe uses his head come the end. Win or lose the division, the playoffs start Tuesday or Wednesday, and I hope Joe has Wang and Pettitte ready to pitch games 1 and 2, regardless of the division outcome.

The post-season roster is a complete mystery. Here are the 19 sure things, assuming they are healthy:

Posada/Molina
A-Rod
Jeter
Cano
Doug/Giambi
Betemit
Damon/Melky/Abreu
Matsui
Wang/Pettitte/Clemens/Mussina
Joba/Vizcaino/Rivera

Now we need five more pitchers out of this group:

Hughes
Kennedy
Bruney
Henn
Farnsworth
Veras
Ramirez

And another position player: Shelly Duncan? Andy Phillips? Is Villone back?

Nothing's Over

Boston is scared, as they should be. Look out if we're just a game down going into the final week!

Shelly Duncan All Class

This is good stuff. I would have liked to have been there after the kid got this back and read it. Definitely a wtf? moment.
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Talk about sore winners.

Griffin Whitman, a 10-year-old Red Sox [team stats] fan from Swampscott, was excited to attend his first Yankees vs. Red Sox game Friday night. The young autograph -collector was even more thrilled to score Yankees outfielder Shelley Duncan’s signature before the game. That is, until Griffin read the message from the 27-year-old rookie: “Red Sox suck! Shelley Duncan.”

“It was cool to get his autograph,” Griffin said. “It didn’t make me feel happy when he wrote that.”

Griffin’s mother, Karen, blasted the Yankees slugger’s bad manners.

“This is someone who wears the Yankee uniform and is on the payroll and should be setting an example for 10-year-olds,” she said.

Duncan, son of St. Louis Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan, has become a fan favorite in the Bronx for hitting mammoth home runs since he was called up from the minors in July.

Yesterday afternoon, a Yankee spokesman declined to comment until he got a chance to speak to Duncan.

Boston Sucks

What a game tonight! Unfortunately, we are 4.5 games down from Boston, so the division is still out of reach without a sweep. But we are making a statement. To pound Okajima and Papelbon was a marvelous thing.

Glory. I love this team.

Yankees in good shape?

We're going to the playoffs, friends. After an arduous season, we've all but made it.

Who do we want, LA or Cleveland?

Yanks in peril?

The Phillips injury won't make much difference, at least through September. Duncan, Betemit and Mientkiewicz can play first base, and Doug is as good a defender as there is at the position. If we make the playoffs and return to a 25 man roster, however, we will feel the loss of Phillips. He's the only one of the group who is a very good defender and a decent hitter, a combination which will be valuable come the limited roster in October.

As for Roger, who knows what to think. Roger, Mussina and Hughes have sucked. The back end of our rotation looks pretty bad regardless of the combination of Mus, Roger, Hughes and Kennedy.

Phillips Hurt Maybe Done For The Year, World Series Dream Crashes Burns

Andy Phillips got his on the wrist the other night. (It was probably intentional.) Gasp. Giambi played 1B today and look what happened. The Yankees lost. I'm not saying the 2 are related but come on.

Please share your Andy Phillips stories.