The New York Times just confirmed that New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner has died. Perhaps now we’ll learn why such a bombastic man was virtually silent during the last years of his life.
Probably no one did more to define the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry from the 1970s on than Steinbrenner. Loudmouthed bully, profligate spender, felonious friend of Richard Nixon — he always gave Red Sox fans someone to root against.
Derek Jeter liked him, so Steinbrenner must have had a good side as well.
Go ahead, George. Be stupid. Fire Joe Torre — please. The great Yankees manager is now 67 years old, so he probably would like to escape the day-to-day grind. But he’d make a terrific special assistant to Theo Epstein, wouldn’t he?
Torre may have lost a couple of feet off his fastball, but having to rely on Alex Rodriguez in clutch situations can make any manager look bad. The fact is that Torre compiled the best second half of his managing career without a single consistently reliable starting pitcher. Wang for Cy Young? Uh, I don’t think so.
As for Cleveland, I think we all know this isn’t going to be like playing the Angels, who were pretty much a Triple A team by the time the playoffs began, and who continued losing players right through the sweep.
From a Red Sox fan’s point of view, the best thing to like about the Indians is the prospect of Joe Borowski trying to nail down a close game in the ninth. The man’s got 45 saves, but he’s hittable, and he showed it again last night.
Sports | Dan Kennedy | 
July 13, 2010 10:22 am | 
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