They could afford to be less aggressive with Clemens though. #1, Roger probably didn't want to alienate Yankee fans any more, since he already did that after 2003, and has repeatedly said he wants to wear a Yankee cap when he goes into the Hall of Fame (confused? I am too), so the actuality of him signing with Boston was less likely anyways, but #2, Boston's rotation, with the exception of Julian Tavarez (who will probably be replaced soon by Jon Lester), is in much better shape than the Yankees is at this point in time.

Frankly, I'd still take Dice-K over Clemens long-term, but obviously, right now, give me Clemens.

who screwed up the width of this thread? What a pain it is to see it so wide.

True, but at this point, I think Boston has the better chance to win the World Series than the Yankees and that's what he's really after. It is only May and the Yankees have had a grocery list of injuries. We'll see how they do when they get everyone back healthy, but the easier road would have been with Boston. Whereas with the Yankees, everyone is expecting him to be the savior on his white horse.

Here we go again

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Curt response

BOSTON (Ticker) -- Barry Bonds never has admitted to using steroids. Apparently, Curt Schilling believes he has.

The outspoken pitcher of the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday took some verbal shots at Bonds, who needs 12 homers to break Hank Aaron's all-time home run record.

Bonds has been at the center of baseball's ongoing steroids controversy, but never has admitted to knowingly taking steroids.

Schilling must have thought otherwise during an interview with WEEI on Tuesday.

"He [Bonds] admitted he used steroids. There's no gray area," Schilling said on WEEI. "He [Bonds] admitted cheating on his wife, cheating on taxes and cheating on the game."

On Dec. 4, 2003, Bonds was one of several athletes forced to testify as part of the BALCO case, which centered around the San Francisco-area lab, its founder Victor Conte, and Greg Anderson -- Bonds' personal trainer and longtime friend.

Anderson was indicted for illegal distribution of steroids. Bonds told the grand jury that he believed Anderson had given him flaxseed oil and arthritic balm, a substance that turned out to contain steroids.

A book released in 2006 by San Francisco Chronicle reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, Game of Shadows alleges Bonds engaged in persistent doping, taking four different kinds of steroids as well as insulin and human growth hormone during 2001 alone, when he hit 73 homers to break Mark McGwire's single-season record.

The accusations have clouded Bonds' pursuit of Aaron's record of 755 homers. Aaron has said he will not be in attendance when Bonds attempts to break the record.

"Hank Aaron not being there, the commissioner [Bud Selig] not knowing where he's going to be, it's sad," Schilling told WEEI. "I don't care if he's black, green, purple or yellow or whatever. It's just unfortunate there's good people and bad people."

A seven-time National League MVP, Bonds has 10 homers this season, raising his career total to 744.

Bonds, 43, reportedly failed an amphetamines test last season, and the New York Daily News reported that Bonds attributed the positive test results to a substance he took from the locker of teammate Mark Sweeney.

Bonds later absolved Sweeney of any involvement but never commented on whether or not he took amphetamines.

Source: SI

Alright, you just hate Curt Schilling for anything. If he donated a million bucks to an African charity you would blast him. It's not like Schilling isn't echoing the thoughts of alot of baseball fans anyway.

But why do I care about what Curt Schilling has to say? Why not ask A-Rod? Why not ask Dontrelle? Why not ask Roy Oswalt? And yes, I do hate Curt for anything. He ALWAYS has to have an opinion on ANYTHING (hence the reason why I hate him for anything).

The reason everyone throws a microphone in front of Curt's face is because he is bombastic, like Charles Barkley was in basketball. He's not afraid of controversy. Very few players have the gonads to speak so plainly, especially when it concerns a fellow ball player. Usually, you get the cautious meaningless responses from ball players. Then again, much of the silence about Bonds from his peers may have something to do with glass houses.

Well, doesn't everyone have an opinion on everything? Opinions are like a-holes, no? Don't blame Schilling for being asked, blame the people asking the questions.

Notes: Abreu pushed down to No. 7

NEW YORK -- The Yankees hope that a lineup relocation will serve as the tonic that cures Bobby Abreu, who has been slumping in his duties as the team's No. 3 batter.

Yankees manager Joe Torre pulled Abreu aside on Tuesday and told him that the lineup would be shuffled, moving Abreu down in the order to serve as the No. 7 hitter. Designated hitter Jason Giambi assumed the task of batting in front of Alex Rodriguez.

"His at-bats aren't as good as he's capable of," Torre said. "Not that he's not trying, but he just doesn't look very comfortable up there right now."

Abreu entered Tuesday's game against the Rangers batting .256 with one home run and 17 RBIs, but Abreu said that a primary concern has been his production with runners in scoring position.

In those situations, Abreu is batting .250 (10-for-40). He batted .327 (50-for-135) under the same circumstances in 2006.

"I haven't hit good right now with runners in scoring position," Abreu said, "and I think [Torre] is going to [go with] somebody right now who can do the job so far so we can win some games."

Torre said that the move is expected to be short-term, perhaps for one or two games.

"He's perfect at No. 3 in our lineup, but he's fighting himself right now," Torre said.

Abreu, who had 11 hits in his last 64 at-bats before Tuesday, said he was looking to hit the ball to the opposite field more to help regain his rhythm.

Twice in recent weeks, Abreu bunted on his own, which led Torre to speculate that Abreu might be looking to help the club despite a lack of confidence, but Abreu said there were no problems with his mental approach.

"Hitting third and seventh to me is pretty much the same," Abreu said, "because you don't know how the game is going to be, or how the situation of the game is going to be. I think my mind is fine."

Mo problems: Physically, Mariano Rivera claims he feels good -- better, in fact, than he would have admitted to just a few years ago.

Then how to explain his early struggles in 2007, which swelled his ERA to an unsightly 8.44 following Monday's loss to the Mariners?

Rivera said he is taking a philosophical route as he contemplates his early rough patch, which was accentuated most recently by Adrian Beltre's solo home run with two outs in the ninth inning on Monday.

"I take it the way it is," Rivera said. "I take the bumps with the victories. It tests my character, testing my faith. I don't know what it is, but it's a test. I'm up for it."

Rivera said that the Beltre home run was more a product of poor pitch location than an ineffective cutter, but he acknowledged that pitchers can usually point to a mistake or two that they can get away with.

Those have been few and far between for Rivera, who also surrendered a game-winning home run to Marco Scutaro in Oakland on April 15 and blew a save at Fenway Park on April 20.

"Sometimes, you make a mistake and they miss it," Rivera said. "These are not those times."

Yanks have liftoff: Roger Clemens completed his first official workout at the University of Kentucky campus on Tuesday, throwing for more than an hour at Cliff Hagen Stadium in Lexington, Ky.

"The arm feels good," Clemens told The Associated Press. "Right now, I've just got to get that soreness that every pitcher understands. I've got to get it in my legs and out as quick as possible so that I know I can handle the stress of a Major League game."

It has been speculated that Clemens, 44, will need somewhere between two and four Minor League appearances before he is capable of pitching in the Majors. He is expected to make an appearance with the Yankees next week in Chicago, according to ESPN.

"It's nice to know you have something coming," Torre said.

The Yankees' June 1-3 series at Boston would appear to be a realistic projection. Torre said that preparation would certainly not be an issue with Clemens, who completed his re-introductory press conference on Sunday and promptly went out to throw a bullpen session in an empty Yankee Stadium.

"He's so organized," Torre said. "He's champing at the bit, ready to go, but he knows what it's going to take."

Source: Yankees

Giambi hobbled by bone spur in foot

NEW YORK -- Yankees designated hitter Jason Giambi had X-rays on Tuesday that revealed a bone spur in his left foot, but the slugger believes that the injury will not keep him out of the lineup for an extended period.

Giambi, 36, was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the sixth inning of the Yankees' 8-2 victory over the Rangers on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. Giambi said that the bone spur creates irritation, but he could be available to play on Wednesday.

"It's manageable," Giambi said. "It's not to the point where I can't stand on it."

Yankees manager Joe Torre said that the bone spur is not a situation that overly concerns him.

"It's something he's had, and will deal with," Torre said.

Giambi said that he first began feeling the irritation in his left foot during the club's series at Texas last week, and he attributed some of the problem to a dry field at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

Giambi said that the spur is closer to the heel of his foot. He went 0-for-2 with a walk and a run scored on Tuesday, after going 0-for-4 in Monday's loss to the Mariners.

"The last couple of days, I haven't swung the bat very well," Giambi said. "With that being my back foot, it puts more pressure on it."

For the moment, Giambi believes that he can control the issue with a regimen of treatment and ice therapy.

He joked that his speed game -- which, of course, is nearly nonexistent; he had two stolen bases in 2006 and has none so far in 2007 -- may suffer.

"I'll have to try for 40 and two," Giambi said, referring to home runs and steals, respectively.

In 31 games for the Yankees this season, Giambi is batting .299 with five home runs and 18 RBIs.

Source: Yankees

Clemens ego couldn't stand competing with Curt Schilling on the same team. Now he can be his ultimate foil in the storied rivalry between the two teams.

You couldn't make this crap up.

I can't imagine that with Pettite on the Yankees, that Clemens would seriously have gone to Boston.

Me too. And with Cano giving up his number for the season, I think that was just the icing on the cake

I think this is a first

----------------------------------------------------------------

Schilling apologizes for Bonds comments

"Everyone has days and events in life they'd love to push the rewind button on, yesterday was one of those days," Schilling wrote on 38pitches.com. "Regardless of my opinions, thoughts and beliefs on anything Barry Bonds it was absolutely irresponsible and wrong to say what I did. I don't think it's within anyone's right to say the things I said yesterday and affect other peoples lives in that way."

The apology not only followed Schilling's appearance on WEEI-AM's "Dennis and Callahan" show, but came after a discussion between the pitcher and Red Sox manager Terry Francona.

"I mean, he admitted that he used steroids," Schilling said Tuesday. "I mean, there's no gray area. He admitted to cheating on his wife, cheating on his taxes and cheating on the game, so I think the reaction around the league, the game, being what it is, in the case of what people think. Hank Aaron not being there. The commissioner trying to figure out where to be. It's sad.

"And I don't care that he's black, or green, or purple, or yellow, or whatever. It's unfortunate … there's good people and bad people. It's unfortunate that it's happening the way it's happening."

Schilling largely took responsibility for his comments, but also suggested that the early time of the interview may have been partly to blame.

"I'd love to tell you I was ambushed, misquoted, misinterpreted, something other than what it was, but I wasn't," Schilling wrote. "I'm thinking that waking up at 8:30 am to do the weekly interview we do with WEEI is probably not the greatest format and if you heard the interview it's not hard to realize that I'm usually awake about 30-45 seconds before it begins.

"That's still no excuse or reason to say what I did, or even answer the question that was asked. The question I was asked and the answer I gave yesterday affected a lot more people than just he and I. His wife, his children, his friends and his family were all affected by that, as were mine and my teammates."

Source: FOX Sports

And some here thought I was picking on poor Dice-K. Prior to last night's victory (yes, he earned it), during his 3 previous starts, he allowed 18 hits, 17 earned runs and 10 walks in just 18 innings of work. The numbers don't lie my friends

Come on, you know that that is a lie,

You don't have any friends.



Irish, I have a new name for you. You are now better known as:
THE BOSTON BULLY.

And come on, if Clemens puts up numbers like that, you'll be the first person to say how foolish they were to think that a 44-year-old star "on the backside of his career" could help them, etc.

Stop it, girls.

The Yankee did the only thing they could at the moment to fix their problem. So Clemens is old, so what if they can get only one good year out of him. Let's face it there isn't to much out there to buy right now, no matter how much you throw at the problem.
The way that they are thinking is that they should be able to get some innings from him, he is a veteran player so he knows some tricks and what he needs to do. It will give the young players some breathing room so they will not burn thru four or five young pitchers.

And If I am a Yankee fan I don't care what the numbers say as long as we get a win and don't slide behind. I'll tell you what I am sick of and that's excuses. Our bench is so deep we could build two teams from it. You can pick Boston apart all you want but we are still 6 games back and it is only May 10th.

I am sick to see that the papers are cheering because the Yankees quote "are returning to their winning ways" For crying out loud we are beating up on the friggin Texas team. We can start feeling better when we sweep Boston or Cleveland or at least Detroit. But let's see how we do against Seattle this week before we start cheering.

We swept the Indians in mid-April...

Well, right now they're losing 4-1 in the top of the 6th to that friggin Texas team. I guess we can't win them ALL. Although with three Yankee innings left, I guess there's still hope.

Yeah... hope that the 10 run Little League rule isn't called.

The Curse of the (Sicilian) Babe!

Spanked hard by Texas.

It is enough to make a grown man cry.

Its always hard to lose to one of the poorer teams, but this (score) has to make it feel like salt in the wound.

Hell, I can hear George all the way up here in Syracuse!

OUCH!! That was too cruel, even for a Bosox fan!!

Ahhh.... stop your moaning... you got the top of the page.

I LOVE being on top!!

And all the Sicilian girls I grew up with were such prudes!

Where's the luck ?

....of the page.