Ogre, son of Ogre

It's all because of the designated hitter, or lack thereof.  A funny thing happened last week when Chien Ming Wang found himself with a bat in his hands.  Wang of course is the ace pitcher of the New York Yankees.

I wish he wasn't their ace, because he's a sinkerball pitcher, he pitches to contact, and he doesn't strike anyone out.  That became problematic in last year's playoffs when he got shelled (not once, but twice) and he was more to blame than anyone else for the Yankees' early exit from the playoffs.

But Wang is clearly the best they have, because their young fireballers (Hughes, Kennedy) can't get anyone out, much less win a game, and spent most of this season either in the minors or on the disabled list, where they couldn't do any more damage to their own team.

But again I digress.  Since we now have interleague play, the Yankees found themselves playing against a team from the NL, and worse yet, a ROAD game.  That meant playing by National League rules, which does not recognize the designated hitter, which meant Wang had to bat.

Wang grounded into a force out, and was occupying first base when another batter got an extra-base hit.  So not only does Wang get to bat, he gets to run, too!  They decided to have Wang try to score, which he did handily, even though he had to hobble in from third base to score.

The reason he had to hobble was he stepped on third base wrong, and hurt his foot.  Wang is going to be on the disabled list for three months, and likely for the rest of the year.  He might be back in time for the playoffs, but are the Yankees going to make the playoffs without him?  Not unless they can find some starting pitching.

Enter Hank Steinbrenner.  The ogre who runs the New York Yankees, son of George Steinbrenner, the ogre who USED to run the Yankees.  Hank exploded, saying it was all the fault of the National League which is still stuck in the 19th century because it won't adopt the designated hitter rule.  It's all their fault that his ace pitcher is probably out for the season.

I have to wonder about that.  Wang is a baseball player.  An athlete.  Athletes have to run sometimes, and they're supposed to beable to run around the bases without killing themselves.  It was bad luck, but that's all.  Even Joe Girardi said it's part of the game (for which he will incur Steinbrenner's wrath.)  For thirty years, George made it hard to root for the Yankees, and now the chip off the old block is doing the same.

And speaking of injuries, note to Tiger Woods:  You're over 30 now.  Injuries don't heal as quickly any more.  When your doctor says you need rest, you should rest.

Of course, Tiger ignored his doctor's instructions, and played in the U.S. Open anyway, winning one of the most exciting tournaments ever on the 91st hole.  But it turns out his knee is even more messed up than before, and he also has a stress fracture in his left leg, will need more surgery, and he is done for the year.

The next major is in March, at Augusta, so maybe Tiger will rest up for that one.