Yankees Slide

The Yankees recently won their 6th consecutive division title without winning the World Series. The only team with a longer streak are, of course, the Braves (10 years)
The Indians are the only other team with more than 3
Braves 1996 - 2005 10 yrs
Yankees 2001 - 2006 6 yrs
Indians 1995 - 1999 5 yrs

... and the streak continues

Yankees in 2006

We've known it since they acquired Bobby Abreu. We've known it when they added Matsui and Sheffield to their already insanely deep lineup.
The Yankees are going to win the World Series in 2006.
They will march through the post season with little or no opposition.
They will embarrass all opponents.

Given their riches and talent, anything less will be looked at as a failure of a season.

Gidyup in that Fastball

There's a lot being made about Detroit reliever Joel Zumaya's fastball, which is understandable after he uses it to blow away the Yankees on the national stage of post season play. It's said he hit 102 MPH on the radar gun, and that got me thinking: "How different does 102 mph look to a hitter than 100 mph?" Granted, there aren't that many guys throwing in 3 digits, but the big leaguers do get to see it and are expected to hit it.



A 100 mph fastball will reach the plate in 0.41 seconds. In that much time, a 102 mph pitch will travel 61.7 feet, ie. it will be just over one foot past the front of the plate. So as fast as a batter's reaction time needs to be to make solid contact with a 100 mph pitch, he'll still be way late on the 102 mph.

How about the difference between 95 mph and 102 mph?
If your swing is timed for the 95er, the 102er will be a good 4.4 feet past you by the time your bat crosses the plate.

Should Giants resign Bonds?

Are you crazy? The only reason I hear why the San Francisco should resign Barry Bonds is so that he could break the ultimate home run record in a Giants uniform. Big deal! Don't sacrifice the whole season for this.
They will have a new manager and, hopefully, a set of new players to fill in for their departing free agents. Why subject them to the Bonds sideshow?
There are too many open questions

• How many games can he play?
• How many innings of each game will he be able to limp out to left field?
• Will he be in jail?

Even if you can get him at an incentive-laden discount from this year (which he's already said would be unacceptable), you can't build a winner around a guy who will play less than 20 innings a week.

... and if he goes to an American League team and has a Frank Thomas kind of year, don't say it was a mistake to let him go. He can do so much more offensively as a DH when he can ice down his joints while his teammates play the field. Remember, if it weren't for the DH rule, Frank Thomas would have been out of baseball years ago.