Shame on Buckie!!

Members of the New York Yankees were upset on Sunday, when, during the Rangers game against the Angels, Buck Showalter removed some of his starters. The bold sections come from ESPN.com.

Showalter removed starters Michael Young, Mark Teixeira and Hank Blalock for pinch-runners in the third inning against the Angels on Sunday. The Texas Rangers led 4-1 after three innings, but the Angels rallied for a 7-4 victory and earned home-field advantage for the first round against the Yankees with the victory.
-Evidently, Showalter wanted his boys to get ovations from the home crowd. Nothing wrong with this, except that he's taking his best players out of a game. So much for "every game counts." On the other hand, who gives a crap? It's the last game of the freaking season.

The Yankees had the ability to earn home-field advantage in this series with a win Sunday against Boston, as well as maybe eliminate their rivals.
-The Yankees had the ability to do this with a win against the Sox, regardless of the outcome of the Angels/Rangers game. Not only would they have secured home field, but they would have possibly put their rivals in a one game playoff against Cleveland.

Former Ranger Alex Rodriguez, who played for Showalter in Texas, was one of the Yankees who was peeved at the Rangers manager's decision. "There's a code of honor when so much is on the line," Rodriguez told the New York Daily News. "You hope people do the right thing. But you can't control what people do."
-This code that the Yankees unfailingly follow, meant that at the end of the Yanks/Sox game, New York had Phillips, Womack, Lawton, Escalona, Nieves, Bellhorn, and Crosby playing in place of starters.

Yankees manager Joe Torre was equally surprised.
"It's surprising," Torre told The New York Times. "If his team was in the playoffs, I could understand it a little bit more. It's just surprising he pulled them so soon."
-Thanks to the writer for clearing up that Torre was surprised. What was surprising Joe? The fact the Showalter doesn't manage the Yanks and didn't worry about what you and your team thinks? Was it the fact that he was more concerned with the team he actually manages? Did I mention that at the end of the Yanks/Sox game, New York had Phillips, Womack, Lawton, Escalona, Nieves, Bellhorn, and Crosby playing in place of starters.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told the New York Times that he didn't mind Showalter's decision, however.
"If we had won one more game, we wouldn't have to be worried about what anybody else did," Cashman told The Times.
-Thank God for Brian Cashman, the lone sane man in the Yankee organization. How this guy remains somewhat coherent in the face of the New York media, fans, and George Steinbrenner, is beyond me.

In other news, the Red Sox got bombed yesterday. Bartolo Colon did not pitch like a Cy Young winner, and the Pads made an ugly game look interesting. Boy, I can't get enough Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. Guh. Whyare these two guys still on the air?
In the middle of the Padre/Cardinal game yesterday, when asked what strategy Ozzie Guillen would take against the Red Sox, John Kruk told us in that Guillen would play the same way he played all year. No John, he won't. He will manage the same way he did all year. You are a fat, blubbering turd.