The Sports Rumors

Colin’s Corner

This page will contain periodic thoughts and opinions from a big time sports fan and a good friend of mine. He will throw in his two cents from time to time or report on various sporting events around the world which he attends.

A Night With the Yankees

October 1, 2007

My dad, the definition of a Yankees fan, having been born in the gritty Washington Heights neighborhood on 175th street, and even boasting having attended a Yanks World Series game in 1960, picked up a pair of tickets for us for yesterday afternoon’s final game of the regular season against the Orioles. He was hoping that their contention for the division title would’ve come down to this game, but unfortunately for them they collapsed against Baltimore on Friday night and gave the Sox reason to celebrate early. With their postseason presence already secured, they went ahead and played a lot of lesser knowns on Saturday, but started all the big names (sans Posada) yesterday in hopes of carrying some momentum into the playoffs. I am not a Yankees fan by any means, and in fact very much despise them, but those boys can play; not to mention there were 41 runs through the first two games of the series, so we knew we were in for some action. Jeter stepped up to the plate and belted a triple off the wall, and Arod wasted no time in driving him in. Both played excellent, but they, along with several others, were pulled after a few innings to get some other guys more experience. A few things I observed:

*Rodriguez, driving in his 156th RBI, moved past Joe DiMaggio into sole possession of 10th place on New York’s season RBIs list and is definitely the hands down pick for a third AL MVP award.

*Torre needs to give up on Jason Giambi. He is almost guilty of the gambler’s fallacy, believing that since he has been down for so long that he has to bounce back soon, which I don’t think will be the case. Giambi batted a measly .236 this season, nowhere near what a premier player should be at. His only on base yesterday out of 5 at bats was because of being hit by a pitch. Torre should just throw in the towel on him, and put in young developing talent to get some experience, someone who will produce for them in the future.

*Abreu, with 2 RBI on the day, took his season total to 101, giving him at least 100 RBI in 5 straight seasons, and 6 total. Kudos.

*Baltimore gave up at least 10 runs in 11 of their final 39 games, and with a team era of 6.89 in the month of September, it gives the once storied club the worst era in the majors in 51 years. This is also their 10th straight losing season since winning the division in ‘97. Something needs to be done.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

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The U.S. Open

September 9th, 2007

On a whim, found a pair of tickets on craigslist this morning and paid $300 for the pair. Arthur Ashe stadium is set up perfectly, you have a great view of the court from any seat… we happened to be on a baseline, 4 rows up in the top deck. I have to say, Novak Djokovic can play. As fluid as Federer looked, as per usual, Djokovic brought a flair that I think caught Federer off guard a little bit. Not to mention he was breaking 130 mph on several serves, which Federer had some trouble dealing with. Federer struggled even to notch points in the first two sets when Djokovic was serving, which made half the games go by quickly and half seemingly battled out. I think in his youth (only 20 years old) and this being his first Grand Slam final, nerves got the best of the young Serb. In both the first and second sets, he had a chance to put Federer away and let him crawl back to win. The most disappointing was the 2nd set, when he had a 5-4 lead and double match point, let Federer bring it back to deuce and then eventually win the game, and the saw it end up in a tiebreak situation again which Federer won handily. His inability to close out a few games, but more importantly the first two sets, was his downfall. I think the #3 player definitely has a few things he needs to work on, including reducing the number of severely unforced errors he commits, but I definitely think he and Federer will be a marquee matchup in tournaments to come. Although his record is only 1-5 against Federer, Djokovic ran through him, Nadal, AND Ferer in Montreal last month… the top 3 spots in the world rankings! Once again though, Federer proved he was the worlds best, winning his 4th straight US open and 12th Grand Slam title, and took home a record $2.4 million on the night, including a sweet new Lexus. For those of you who missed the match, it is definitely one worth going back and watching… the highlights don’t do it the justice it deserves.