The State of the Evil Empire

      Here we go! Time to give to you all my "State of the Evil Empire" monologue! As mentioned in my first post, I am a HUGE Yankees fan! I will frequently give you my thoughts on the New York Yankees. If you're a Yankees fan, a respectable fan from another team, a fan of baseball, and/or a fan of sports, then I hope you will enjoy my thoughts and opinions on the Bronx Bombers! Alright without further to do, lets dive in!
      Alright so the Yankees have been essentially floating around for the past couple of weeks. Granted they had a last good home stand against Seattle and Detroit going 5-2. But they just lost a series on the road in Toronto against the Blue Jays, a team that has the Yankees' number this season! Yankees are about to start a three game weekend set in Chicago against the very colorful Ozzie Guillen and his squad. White Sox are fighting for playoff contention in the AL Central while the Yanks are still deadlocked with the Rays at the top of the AL East. 
         This is a pretty big series for both teams, though I think there's more pressure on the White Sox to make up ground on the Twins and so this series means much more to the White Sox. But there are two very important games coming up for the Yanks. Friday night's (tonight's) game has AJ Burnett on the mound for the Yankees. Burnett HAS TO show the Yankees that they can trust him down the stretch here in the regular season but more importantly in the post season. A great start tonight can and I think will go a long way for AJ! 
           With A-Rod still on the shelf, the depth of the Yanks will again be tested. We'll certainly see Nunez get some time with "Rakin' Ramiro Pena" probably in there at some point. Quietly Marcus Thames has been on fire again for the Yankees and we'll see if he can continue his hot hitting. Guess who else is hot....I NEVER thought I'd be saying this...but Curtis Granderson has been on a tear ever since he went to school with "K-Long" (Kevin Long) on his new stroke. Austin Kearns as also showed some "Austin Power" as well! It's up to the faithful hands of Mr. Joe Girardi to shuffle up the deck and see what kind of hand he can make with this roster! 
             Speaking of Girardi, he is scheduled to make a media appearance before Friday night's game to discuss the Cubs' managerial decision. I'll be modestly surprised if he leaves the Yanks to go play for the Cubbies...but keep in mind that Girardi is a Chicago boy and played for the Cubs for all those years before coming to New York, so we'll see which way he leans! I don't anticipate Girardi saying anything earth-shattering Friday night. It'll probably be more of a "focusing on the remainder of this season and I will handle the other business after the conclusion of this season." I'll be 239% shocked if he drops some sort of bombshell tonight before the game! But then again, I've been surprised before.
             Sunday afternoon's game will be a BIG one for the Yankees. Yankees will send to the hill their young talent in Ivan Nova. Nova pitched a really good game up in Toronto on Tuesday night. Only mistake he made was to a guy who has been hitting A TON of mistakes this season, and that of course is the newest "friend" of the Yankees, Mr. Jose Bautista. Who by the way hit YET ANOTHER home run on Thursday to bring his total up to 41 HRs! Another good start on Sunday for Nova and we'll start talking about the potential impact Nova can bring to the rotation for the Yankees down the road. By the way....sunday is the 29th....and if Nova pitches very well against the White Sox, then I would not be surprised at all if Brian Cashman puts Javi Vazquez on waivers before the 31st waiver trade deadline! But with a lot of  $$$ left on the contract, I find it very doubtful that another team would take him. Only scenario I see is a NL contender taking him since Javi acts like a CY Young candidate in the NL! 
             Now I just mentioned about Mr. Jose Bautista a minute ago. People have been questioning the integrity of Bautista since he has been playing out of his mind so far this season. All I'm going to say is the following regarding these claims. I personally find it interesting that Bautista has been in the league for a few years now since 2004. His best numbers were in PIT when he hit 16 HRs one season and the following season had a career best 63 RBIs. In 2008 he was dealt to the Blue Jays. Last season in 2009, he hit 13 HRs and 40 RBIs in 113 games. NOW....ALL OF A SUDDEN...he bursts for 41 HRs up to this point AND has 96 RBIs, AND.....HE'S DOING ALL OF THIS IN THE AL EAST! It's not like he put these numbers up when he was in the NL Central! He's doing all of this in the best division in baseball! So I find it HIGHLY suspicious...that's all. But if he's clean, then I give him ALL the props for an amazing season. But he plays in a city and in a country that is known for doctors with access to HGH....so you have to think about that in the back of your minds!
            Alright so that's enough to absorb for one sitting. We'll see how the Yanks do this weekend! Again, I'll be looking at three things this weekend:

1. AJ's start on Friday night
2. The Yankee lineup and offensive production this weekend without A-Rod
3. Ivan Nova's start on Sunday

Thanks for taking the time to read this! Enjoy your weekend and Happy Labor Day to all coming up!

Introduction and first Grumble

Welcome everyone to my entry here on "Green Man's Grumble"! For those not familiar with me I'm Mike Greenberg (no not THAT Mike Greenberg). I'm in upstate NY. I LOVE sports and follow current events. I do sales and marketing for a national direct mail company full time and work at our local ESPN Radio station here in Albany part-time. I'm a HUGE Yankee fan, and also a fan of the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres, mainly due to the fact I went to school out in Rochester, NY.

Alright so last night, on the YES Network's broadcast of the Yankees @ Blue Jays game, there was an interesting text poll for all to vote on. The question was....What is the most annoying thing at a sporting event done by a crowd. The choices are 1) Vuvuzelas 2) The Wave. I enjoyed this question since both things are pretty annoying. BUT one sticks out much more than the other....and that would be THE WAVE! Why you may ask? Well here's why:

• "The Wave" is done by a crowd mainly out of boredom! For some reason, during this past week, the Toronto, Ontario, Canada people felt the need to perform "The Wave" repeatedly. To me, "The Wave" is pretty disrespectful towards the players and others involved with the event.
• Ask yourself this question...Did you purchase your ticket(s) for that particular event just for the mere fact that you just wanted to stand up with your hands straight up in the air and yell "woooooo"?! Seriously.....if you're there to root for a particular team, how the heck does that help?!
• Yes....vuvuzelas are annoying! I get that! But....admittedly...after a couple World Cup games, I got used to it pretty quickly! And lets be honest....the majority of the people blowing the vuvuzelas aren't doing it just to be annoying. They're actually doing this to help encourage their team to perform! It's an odd way to encourage a team but hey, at least they're INTO the game/event and doing their part as a fan to be supportive!

So there you go! Standing up and throwing your hands up in the air to cause a human 'wave' around a stadium, to me, ISN'T supporting what's going on down on the field or whatever the event is! If it's halftime at a football game, then fine! If it's before the start of a sporting game or concert, fine! BUT...DURING A GAME IS JUST a huge slap in the face to the players on the field or to whomever is performing!