Yankees, CC prove winning can't last forever

July 3, 2009

Last winter, the Yankees committed $161 million and the next seven years at the top of their rotation to CC Sabathia and asked only one thing of him: Be our stopper.

Recent columns

• A-Rod is hitting and following the rules

  July 2, 2009

  The Philippon Rules are not like the Joba Rules. They aren't written down anywhere, nor can anyone on the Yankees tell you precisely what they are. They are vague and, you get the feeling, ever changeable, depending upon the needs of the ballclub, the whim of the manager and the physical and mental state of the player to whom they are applied.

• Arguello's death a puzzle to one who knew him

  July 1, 2009

  The word out of Nicaragua says that Alexis Arguello, a former three-time world champion and one of the most elegant fighters who lived, ended his own life yesterday in a most inelegant way, turning a gun upon himself and firing a bullet into his own heart.

• 'Fans' split Citi with Mets crashing

  June 29, 2009

  If the Mets crash in Flushing and there are no Mets fans around to witness it, did it really happen?

• Only The Boss could right Mets' sinking ship

  June 28, 2009

  For more than three decades now, Mets fans have been able to console themselves with the following mantra: At least we're not the Yankees.

• Wilpons, Minaya have little to show for money

  June 28, 2009

  Whatever your opinion of We-Just-Got-A-50- Percent-Raise-With-Your-Bailout-Money field, at least Fred and Jeff Wilpon can look around their spanking new ballpark and see what they got for their $800 million.

• Mets' no-name lineup just sweet to watch

  June 24, 2009

  Going to a Mets game these days is like opening a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get.

• Mickelson gave U.S. Open fans hope

  June 22, 2009

  It was a day the USGA had tried to take away from its fans, but with one hole to play, Phil Mickelson was one good shot from giving it all back.

• Tiger Woods, you're in denial: Just look at scoreboard

  June 21, 2009

  You may not realize this, but my column Monday doesn't reflect how good a writer I really am.

• Fans are the only ones having fun at U.S. Open

  June 20, 2009

  On days like Saturday, there are only two types of people, it seems, going to the U.S. Open.

• USGA big shots are a bunch of green monsters

  June 19, 2009

  Here's all you need to know about the Good Folks at the USGA: They're even more contemptuous of their fans than the Yankees are.

• Tiger's no match for Mickelson with people's vote

  June 17, 2009

  What would a People's U.S. Open be without a People's Champion? It would, of course, be the 2009 U.S. Open without Phil Mickelson.

• Mickelson must find strength and focus from within

  June 16, 2009

  Let's get this straight right off the bat. It's never a good thing having to deal with the kind of adversity that Phil Mickelson, and especially, his wife, Amy, have been dealing with for the past month.

• 'Tiger effect' hasn't drawn enough inner-city kids to golf

  June 15, 2009

  Quick: Name the second-best African-American golfer in the world.

• Presence alone makes Pacquiao weekend's big winner

  June 14, 2009

  So here we are on Monday trying to determine the biggest winner on a terrific sports weekend in New York.

• Cotto shows heart by beating Clottey

  June 14, 2009

  If you happen to see a man walking gingerly down Fifth Avenue Sunday, with one eye gashed and swollen and his face a mass of bruises and welts, take a moment to bow your head in respect and gently shake his hand.

• Cotto hopes to keep tradition alive

  June 13, 2009

  It has become something of a New York City tradition: Miguel Cotto fights before 20,000 fans at Madison Square Garden on the second Saturday of June, and then marches, in triumph, with a couple of million admirers down Fifth Avenue the following Sunday.

• What goes up must come down, but not like this

  June 13, 2009

  Maybe Luis Castillo thought the ball was headed for the rightfield seats.

• Mets hitters suffer a little ballpark envy

  June 12, 2009

  The grass may not be greener on the other side of town, but the fences sure are closer.

• Minaya may have to pay for Mets' injuries

  June 12, 2009

  The man who built the Mets stood in yet another circle of reporters in the corner of another postgame clubhouse to explain once again how another key part of his $149-million roster had broken down.

• For one night, homer happy at Citi Field

  June 9, 2009

  Honey, who shrunk the TARP?

• Desormeaux finally gets a Belmont win

  June 6, 2009

  It's always a long trip to the finish line in the Belmont Stakes but for Kent Desormeaux, negotiating that grueling 11/2 miles has been about as easy as traveling to Mars.

• Belmont separates good from great

  June 5, 2009

  It is in the head of every trainer who enters a horse in the Belmont Stakes, and every jockey who scores a mount.

• Don't cheapen Triple Crown

  June 4, 2009

  If you were to feed a computer all the necessary data to create a prototype of the successful thoroughbred trainer, the computer probably would spit out D. Wayne Lukas.

• Don't count out Zito in Belmont Stakes

  June 3, 2009

  On paper, it's tough to make a case for either of Nick Zito's entries in Saturday's Belmont Stakes.

• Rachel Alexandra should run

  June 2, 2009

  On my word of honor, I have bought my last bottle of Kendall-Jackson merlot.

• Mets, Yankees fans refuse to overpay

  May 30, 2009

  The evidence is mounting rapidly. In the Bronx, 23 home dates and only one announced sellout, on Opening Day. In Flushing, the same number of dates, the same number of sellouts.

• Mets, Yankees fans refusing to overpay

  May 30, 2009

  The evidence is mounting rapidly. In the Bronx, 23 home dates and only one announced sellout, on Opening Day. In Flushing, the same number of dates, the same number of sellouts.

• Mets would be lost without Sheffield

  May 28, 2009

  In only the second day of his major-league career, Fernando Martinez showed he has what it takes to be a Met.

• Citi Field filled with annoying tics

  May 28, 2009

  Daniel Murphy saw the ball flying into rightfield and, unlike some of his Mets teammates, figured he should run.

• Watching Lidge struggle makes one appreciate Mo

  May 24, 2009

  The Yankees lost a game they should have won yesterday, and lost a weekend series to a team they may very well need to beat if they plan to do anything meaningful this October, which is win a World Series.

• Sure is easy to park one in stands at Stadium

  May 23, 2009

  At Yankee Stadium, the long ball has replaced the short ticket sales as the story of the 2009 season.

• Home runs a cheap thrill at Yankee Stadium

  May 20, 2009

  At the new Yankee Stadium, the only thing cheap is the home run.

• Despite loss, 'Mine That Bird' proved more than anyone else

  May 17, 2009

  In a world without Rachel Alexandra, Mine That Bird would be one good mile-and-a-half run from the Triple Crown.

• Borel makes right choice for Preakness

  May 16, 2009

  Rarely does an athlete have the kind of day that justifies everything you suspected about both his physical ability and his judgment.

• Smith in right place atop Mine That Bird

  May 15, 2009

  The more Mike Smith watches what Mine That Bird did in the Kentucky Derby, the more convinced he is that he can do it again in the Preakness.

• Borel shows smarts choosing filly for Preakness

  May 14, 2009

  Calvin Borel may not be book smart, but he's nobody's fool.

• Beating up on bad team is good sign for Mets

  May 10, 2009

  For the past three seasons, the Mets have led the league in only two categories: empty talk and broken promises.

• No shock left when it comes to drugs in sports

  May 8, 2009

  These days, when we hear a name like Manny Ramirez tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, we no longer say, "Who?''

• Amazing that Twins/Yankees didn't keep/get Santana

  May 7, 2009

  Right now, there is Johan Santana and there is everyone else.

• Hurt Posada completes Yanks' slide to mediocrity

  May 6, 2009

  To this point, the Yankees' season had only been a public-relations disaster. Now, it's on the verge of becoming a baseball disaster, too.

• Exposé on A-Rod fails to expose much

  May 4, 2009

  There is really only one question left that Alex Rodriguez needs to answer: Why on Earth couldn't you put the toothpaste on the brush yourself?

• Aw, c'mon, Joe, just turn the page

  May 3, 2009

  A month into their new season, the Yankees have the major leagues' highest payroll, their division's third-best record, between 6,000 and 10,000 empty seats a night in their $1.5-billion showcase ballpark, and the Red Sox coming to town.

• It could be a long season for Sabathia, Teixeira

  May 2, 2009

  So which do you think was the worse offseason investment: spending $2,500 for seats to a Yankees game or spending $341 million on two players who Saturdayhelped to empty a lot of them?

• Still can't afford Yankee seats

  April 28, 2009

  They're having a fire sale in the Bronx. Everything half off. And guess what?

• As catcher/hitter, Santos saves Jets, Mets on same night

  April 28, 2009

  Before he saved the Mets last night, Omir Santos saved the Jets.

• Church says he can hit lefties; stats say he can't

  April 25, 2009

  There's no doubt that Ryan Church was two different players last season - the hitting machine he was before the second of his two concussions and the automatic out he was afterward.

• Honeymoon with new Yankee Stadium already over

  April 23, 2009

  From a baseball standpoint, the first week of the new Yankee Stadium couldn't have gone much better, four wins in six games including yesterday's interminable 9-7 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Melky Cabrera's walk-off home run in the bottom of the 14th inning.

• Giambi took a lot more than he ever gave

  April 20, 2009

  They gave him the key to the city and he treated it as if it were the key to the mini bar.

• Yankees, Mets misread what market will bear

  April 20, 2009

  Upon further review, maybe the Yankees and Mets should have built them smaller.

• What are they going to do about Wang?

  April 19, 2009

  Yesterday at Yankee Stadium, they gave you something you'd never seen before and something you're not likely to ever want to see again. Who says it's impossible to get your $2,500 worth at a ballgame?

• Steinbrenner created a monster -- and a ballpark

  April 16, 2009

  The new Yankee Stadium is spectacular, jaw-dropping, a monument to nearly nine decades of the most consistent success enjoyed by any team in the history of professional sports.

• Citi Field lacks real Mets fans

  April 14, 2009

  There used to be a ballpark here, a raucous place where the fans were rowdy, the team was lovable and the game was fun, whether the Mets won or lost.

• Swisher's a good problem to have

  April 9, 2009

  The Yankees have a problem, and for a change, it doesn't involve A-Rod or Joba or the cost of tickets to the new stadium or exactly when this $200-million amalgamation of players finally would conspire to win a ballgame.

• Dreary debut for Teixeira

  April 6, 2009

  When he was a baseball-crazed kid growing up in nearby Severna Park, Md., one can only imagine how many times Mark Teixeira must have dreamed about this moment: Standing up at the plate at Camden Yards, game on the line, ducks on the pond, screaming crowd on its feet.

• Don't expect Sheff to stay long

  April 4, 2009

  No clubhouse is complete without a cancer, and Friday, on the occasion of their first game at Troubled Assets Relief Program Field (The TARP, for short), the Mets put the finishing touch on their brand-new clubhouse.

• How good is A-Rod? We're about to find out

  April 3, 2009

  I think I know a lot about Alex Rodriguez.

• Taking Joba out of Yanks' bullpen sets up failure

  March 31, 2009

  Joba Chamberlain had his best outing of the spring Tuesday,, limiting the Reds to five hits and two runs in 51/3 innings. He was so good, in fact, that he pitched the Yankees almost to the point where, ideally, Joba Chamberlain would come into the game.

• Plaxico doesn't deserve pass

  March 31, 2009

  Last Nov. 29, Plaxico Burress strolled into a Manhattan nightclub thinking he was Tony Montana. By the time he left, he looked more like Inspector Clouseau, having accidentally shot himself with his own gun.

• Plaxico Burress belongs behind bars

  March 30, 2009

  Last Nov. 29, Plaxico Burress strolled into a Manhattan nightclub thinking he was Tony Montana. By the time he left, he looked more like Inspector Clouseau, having accidentally shot himself with his own gun.

• Yankees drama lets Mets run wild

  March 24, 2009

  Imagine a world without Yankees.

• Without A-Rod, baseball season can't begin

  March 19, 2009

  The calendar says the 2009 baseball season begins Sunday, April 5, in Philadelphia. But this year, the calendar lies.

• Outgoing A-Rod goes into his shell in October

  March 18, 2009

  You look at these photos of Alex Rodriguez kissing himself in a mirror, or lounging on a bed gazing lovingly at his own image, and only one question comes to mind:

• A-Rod can't get enough of himself

  March 18, 2009

  You look at these photos of Alex Rodriguez kissing himself in a mirror, or lounging on a bed gazing lovingly at his own image, and only one question comes to mind:

• It's a no-brainer: Jets have to get Cutler

  March 17, 2009

  He's hanging out there like one of Brett Favre's passes during the final month of last season, just begging to be picked off, and for one of the few times in their existence, the Jets ought to stick it to the rest of the league before the rest of the league sticks it to them.

• It's a no-brainer: Jets HAVE to go after Jay Cutler

  March 16, 2009

  He's hanging out there like one of Brett Favre's passes during the final month of last season, just begging to be picked off, and for one of the few times in their existence, the Jets ought to stick it to the rest of the league before the rest of the league sticks it to them.

• jets

  March 16, 2009

  He's hanging out there like one of Brett Favre's passes during the final month of last season, just begging to be picked off, and for one of the few times in their existence, the Jets ought to stick it to the rest of the league before the rest of the league sticks it to them.

• l McNamee, bully Clemens

  March 12, 2009

  The more I see and hear of Brian McNamee, the more I want to root for Roger Clemens.

• Matthews: In my mind it's all A-Rod all the time

  March 10, 2009

  Hello, my name is Wally and I'm an A-Rodaholic.

• A-Rod's cost to Yankees far more than $275M

  March 6, 2009

  When the day began, Alex Rodriguez had a cyst in his right hip. Then he had a torn labrum in that hip and faced surgery that would keep him off the field for 10 weeks.

• Jeter, Wright class acts for New York

  March 5, 2009

  We in the business of sportswriting spend a lot of time these days writing about guys who do the wrong thing.

• A-Rod is a headache that should just go away

  March 4, 2009

  Today, Alex Rodriguez has a cyst on his hip and a space between his ears.

• Mets, don't mess with Johan

  March 3, 2009

  If you believe the Mets, Johan Santana will pitch both ends of a split-squad doubleheader today, in different cities. Afterward, he'll throw some live BP before entering the team arm-wrestling championship.

• Fehr, Selig are enablers for HGH

  February 26, 2009

  'I haven't seen one that's reliable. What we've said is that when one becomes available, we're certainly willing to look at it and see what it is. We would obviously want to have it validated by scientific experts other than the people who are trying to sell it to you. Then we'll evaluate it and talk to the players about it."

• Bernie a welcome distraction at Yankees' camp

  February 20, 2009

  Yankees training camp might be the only place on Earth where the highest-paid starting pitcher in baseball can throw his first live batting practice before a largely uninterested handful of witnesses.

• You want to believe Jeter about steroids, but ...

  February 19, 2009

  I am looking into Derek Jeter's eyes, trying to read his face while the tape recorder takes down his words for posterity. He has just been asked The Question, the one they all must answer these days, the one some of them even answer honestly the first time.

• A-Rod should learn what real suffering is

  February 18, 2009

  Don Hooton is not the first person to misjudge Alex Rodriguez, nor the only one to expect things from him that he cannot possibly deliver. He is only the latest.

• Mr. Selig, where were you 10 years ago?

  February 17, 2009

  This afternoon in Tampa, Alex Rodriguez will take the stand in the court of public opinion to testify on the matter of just how much his performance has been enhanced by drugs.

• For A-Rod, coming clean was a short-term win

  February 10, 2009

  Alex Rodriguez was the player baseball expected to lead it out of the bad neighborhood it had stumbled into while drunk on steroids.

• Keep A-Rod and other cheaters out of Hall

  February 8, 2009

  A cheater is a cheater is a cheater.

• Mets need new name for ballpark

  January 30, 2009

  They sit there like a taunt, visible from any direction you approach the site, big and bold and monstrously offensive, a surrogate CEO perched like a king atop a $35,000 toilet laughing at the struggling suckers driving past. They are a symbol of everything wrong with this country and much of what is wrong with the ownership of the New York Mets.

• Yankees treat themselves to another big present

  December 24, 2008

  Sometimes it seems as if the Yankees inhabit some alternate reality, a bizarro universe in which the AL East race is not a competition among ballclubs but among bankbooks, one in which the recession doesn't exist, unemployment has been eradicated and depression is a word for shrinks, not sharks.

• Maybe Sabathia doesn't really want to be a Yankee

  November 25, 2008

  Imagine that today a rival employer called and offered you a deal that seemed almost too good to be true: a position at more than double your current salary, with incredible benefits and job and salary security virtually unmatched in any other line of work.

• Hard times, great memories for Joe Frazier

  March 6, 2008

  Joe Frazier's moment in time is frozen on the wall behind his head. The famous left hook has found its target, and the target is in that strange half-standing, half-sitting posture that fighters assume when their next stop is the floor.

• Pedro and Roger have got a lot of nerve

  February 28, 2008

  In the famous words of Curt Schilling, circa November 2001, Mystique and Aura weren't qualities the Yankees could rely on, merely "dancers at a nightclub."

• This probe is just a pain in the ...

  February 13, 2008

  It was shortly before noon, about two hours into the august proceedings, that the so-called hearing of the Congressional Oversight Committee into steroid abuse in baseball became, to borrow a particularly juicy bit of testimony, a palpable mass on my buttocks.

• Steroids foul baseball again

  February 12, 2008

  Some things never change. On the day pitchers and catchers will begin to trickle in at spring training camps across the country, for the 25th consecutive year Roger Clemens will prepare to take the hill.

• Tyree is a fitting Super Bowl hero for Giants

  February 6, 2008

  The one you don't see coming is often the sweetest of all. That is why of all the championships won by all the teams through all the years in this sports crazy town, the 1968 Jets, the '69 Mets and the '96 Yankees are the ones we remember most fondly.

• Belichick shows he has no class

  February 5, 2008

  Sometimes a man’s character, if not his whole life, can be encapsulated in the blink of an eye. For Scottie Pippen, it was the moment he decided to sit down rather than play out the last 1.8 seconds of a crucial playoff game when he learned the final shot would not be his. For Mike Tyson, it was the moment he decided it would be easier to bite his way out of a beating from Evander Holyfield than to face it.

• From my lips to Omar's ears?

  January 30, 2008

  You're welcome, Omar. You, too, Jeff.

• Long, misleading Clemens report to bore Congress

  January 29, 2008

  I think I have finally figured out the strategy being used by Roger Clemens and his alleged advisers in their increasingly silly-slash-desperate attempts to convince the world that the Rocket ran on clean fuel for the past 24 years.

• Pampered Clemens just doesn't seem to get it

  January 10, 2008

  I'm sick of Roger Clemens. I'm sick of people who think like him. I'm sick of people who think it's OK to think like him and I'm sick of people who make excuses for him.

• Wallace Matthews: Roger fails on "60 Minutes"

  January 7, 2008

  They stuck him in a lineup that would have protected even A-Rod in October, and still, Roger Clemens couldn't manage to look good.

• Snowing Wallace is one thing, Congress another

  January 5, 2008

  It's one thing to swear before Mike Wallace, but would Roger Clemens tell the same story if put under oath before a congressional committee?

• Clemens must be judged same way as Bonds

  December 14, 2007

  For the past 10 years, one guy has been treated like he's Nicky Barnes, the other like he's John Wayne.

• Clemens must be judged same way as Bonds

  December 14, 2007

  For the past 10 years, one guy has been treated like he's Nicky Barnes, the other like he's John Wayne.

• Lidle tragedy puts game in perspective

  October 11, 2006

  Wednesday was supposed to have been one of the great days in the history of baseball in this town, which covers a lot of great days and a lot of great history.