Who is the best baseball team after the all-star break

[calhobs 110]

The YANKEES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! after many people had them counted out (I was one of them) they have gone on a tear and are 25-8 after the all star break, they are in the wild card lead, and are the third best team in winning pct in baseball, with a big seris coming up with boston in about 10 days cna our beloved yankees pull of the second greatest come back ever? I think we can, LETS GO YANKEES !!!!!!

[ny10570 745]

Don't forget this run for the pennant started before the break. Before the all star break they began to start lighting up taking 7 of 9 (I think).

[Fex404 0]

I find it a little interesting that the bronx is burning series is showing this year. 1977 the yanks were counted out and were pretty far behind before coming back to win the world series.......

[Guest feraldan]

I really believe that the influx of new (many young) players is changing the attitude of some of the older players. You can see a clear attitude change. It looked like they were asleep on the field before but with guys like Duncan getting all amped up, its really got them moving.

This guy Chamberlain is amazing. I can't wait to see him pitch again.

[ex-commish 490]

I really believe that the influx of new (many young) players is changing the attitude of some of the older players. You can see a clear attitude change. It looked like they were asleep on the field before but with guys like Duncan getting all amped up, its really got them moving.

This guy Chamberlain is amazing. I can't wait to see him pitch again.

Yes, Chamberlain was amazing and I think part of the Yankees problem was pitching. A few more like him is what they need.

[calhobs 110]

I think these youg players have lit a fire under the other players a** by them knowing that no job is safe.

[Guest]

I heard on the radio yesterday that a sports radio DJ from Boston said "In April the Yankees were in barely in our rear view mirror. Now they are in out Back seat!" GO Yankees!!

And give Rivera a kick in the butt. And he wants more money?? Better start playing like you want it.

[PVFD233 68]

Mid-September Yankees take the East!

[llm60 0]

LETS GO YANKEES!!!

[PATROL224 0]

The best team in baseball right now is clearly the NEW YORK YANKESS!! The YANKEES will be there in the end just as long as their Pitching holds up. Let's not forget that PITCHING wins CHAMPIONSHIPS!!

[FFD260 1]

LETS GO YANKEES

[Future Fireman 4]

look who's in the lead RED SOX! You guys are still behind by 4 games. Here's the Standings for all of the AL

I think they might actually win another World Series.

Mike

[PVFD233 68]

On a sad note

Rizzuto, Yankee Hall of Famer, dies at age 89

ESPN.com news services

Updated: August 14, 2007, 2:27 PM ET

Remembering Yankees Legend Phil RizzutoNEW YORK -- Phil Rizzuto, the Hall of Fame shortstop during the Yankees' dynasty years and beloved by a generation of fans who delighted in hearing him exclaim "Holy cow!" as a broadcaster, has died. He was 89.

Rizzuto had pneumonia and died in his sleep late Monday night, daughter Patricia Rizzuto said Tuesday. He had been in declining health for several years and was living at a nursing home in West Orange, N.J.

Rizzuto, nicknamed "The Scooter," was the oldest living member of the Baseball Hall of Fame prior to his death. He was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 1994 by the Veterans Committee.

Rizzuto, noted as one of the best defensive shortstops in the history of the game, was the American League MVP in 1950 and played in five All-Star games. In his MVP season, Rizzuto hit .324 and scored 125 runs. He played for the Yankees from 1941 to 1956 (missing three years because of World War II, when he was in the U.S. Navy). The Yankees won seven World Series titles during Rizzuto's career.

Photo File/Getty Images

Phil Rizzuto, shown around 1941 when he broke into the big leagues with the Yankees.

"I guess heaven must have needed a shortstop," Yankees principal owner George Steinbrenner said in a statement. "Phil Rizzuto's contributions to the Yankees and the sport of baseball were immense for a period of over 50 years. He was one of the greatest Yankees of all time and a dear, close friend of mine whose loss is enormous to me and to the entire Yankee family."

Rizzuto went on to be a Yankees broadcaster for more than 40 seasons. His unique style was accented with his famous phrase, "Holy Cow!" when a great play was made. Rizzuto was on the call when Roger Maris hit his 61st career home run to eclipse the single-season home run record previously held by Babe Ruth.

"Phil was a gem, one of the greatest people I ever knew. A dear friend and great teammate," said Hall of Famer Yogi Berra, who frequently visited Rizzuto in his later years. "When I first came up to the Yankees, he was like a big, actually small, brother to me. He's meant an awful lot to baseball and the Yankees and has left us with a lot of wonderful memories."

After Rizzuto's death, the oldest living Hall of Famer is Lee MacPhail Jr., who was born in 1917. Bobby Doerr and Bob Feller (born in 1918), Monte Irvin (born in 1919) and Stan Musial (born in 1920) are among the 62 still-living Hall of Famers.

Rizzuto was a flashy, diminutive player who could always be counted on for a perfect bunt, a nice slide or a diving catch in a lineup better known for its cornerstone sluggers. He played alongside the likes of Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle.

He stood just 5-foot-6 but was equipped with a productive bat, sure hands and quick feet that earned him his nickname. A leadoff man, Rizzuto was a superb bunter, used to good advantage by the Yankee teams that won 11 pennants and nine World Series between 1941 and 1956.

Kidwiler Collection/Diamond Images/Getty Images

Rizzuto avoids Jim Gilliam of the Brooklyn Dodgers during Game 1 of the 1955 World Series.

"He was a Yankee all the way," Indians great and Hall of Famer Bob Feller said. "Phil could hit, he could run, he was good on the basepaths and he was a great shortstop. He knew the fundamentals of the game and he got 100 percent out of his ability. He played it hard and he played it fair."

Rizzuto tried out with the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants when he was 16, but because of his size was dismissed by Dodgers manager Casey Stengel, who told him to "Go get a shoeshine box." He went on to become one of Stengel's most dependable players.

A Rizzuto bunt, a steal and a DiMaggio hit made up the scoring trademark of the Yankees' golden era, and he played errorless ball in 21 consecutive World Series games. DiMaggio said the shortstop "held the team together."

Rizzuto came to the Yankees in 1941 and batted .307 as a rookie. After his stint in the Navy, he returned in 1946 and four years later became the American League MVP. He batted .324 that season with a slugging percentage of .439 and 200 hits, second most in the league. He also went 58 games without an error, making 288 straight plays.

He led all AL shortstops in double plays three times and had a career batting average of .273 with at least a .930 fielding percentage.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Rizzuto compiled a .627 personal winning percentage during his 13-year major-league career (1,039-618). No active position player with even 200 career games played has a winning percentage that high. The only active position player with a career personal winning percentage in the .600s in at least 1,000 games is Derek Jeter (1,081-713, .603).

After the Yankees released him in 1956, Rizzuto began a second career as a broadcaster, one for which he became at least equally well known.

In his decades on the radio and TV, Rizzuto's favorite phrase was "Holy cow!" It became so common, the team presented him with a cow wearing a halo when they held a day in his honor in 1985. The cow knocked Rizzuto over and, of course, he shouted, "Holy cow!"

"That thing really hurt," he said. "That big thing stepped right on my shoe and pushed me backwards, like a karate move."

Rizzuto's voice is famously part of Meatloaf's 1977 classic song "Paradise By The Dashboard Light," in which he is heard broadcasting a portion of a game. Yankee fans also loved his unusual commentary.

In an age of broadcasters who spout statistics and repeat the obvious, Rizzuto delighted in talking about things like his fear of lightning, the style of an umpire's shoes or even the prospect of outfielder Dave Winfield as a candidate for president.

He liked to acknowledge birthdays and anniversaries, read notes from fans, praised the baked delicacies at his favorite restaurant and send messages to old cronies. And if he missed a play, he would scribble "ww" in his scorecard box score. That, he said, meant "wasn't watching."

Despite his qualifications, Rizzuto was passed over for the Hall of Fame 15 times by the writers and 11 times by the old-timers committee. Finally, a persuasive speech by Ted Williams pushed Rizzuto into Cooperstown in 1994.

Williams, a member of the committee, argued that Rizzuto was the man who made the difference between the Yankees and his Red Sox. He was fond of saying, "If we'd had Rizzuto in Boston, we'd have won all those pennants instead of New York."

As in his playing days, Rizzuto was overshadowed by the headliners, teammates like DiMaggio, Mantle, Whitey Ford and Berra. All of them reached the Hall of Fame before he did.

"I never thought I deserved to be in the Hall of Fame," Rizzuto would say. "The Hall of Fame is for the big guys, pitchers with 100 mph fastballs and hitters who sock homers and drive in a lot of runs. That's the way it always has been and the way it should be."

Old-timers still talk about his suicide squeeze in the ninth inning during the 1951 pennant race to score DiMaggio, beating Cleveland 2-1 and putting the Yankees in first place for the rest of the season.

Rizzuto remembers Aug. 25, 1956, as a day he thought was the "end of the world," the day Stengel released him to make room for clutch-hitting Enos Slaughter in the pennant drive.

"It was Old-Timers Day, and I was out taking pictures, as I did every year," Rizzuto remembered. "The batboy came over and told me that Casey Stengel and George Weiss wanted to see me in Stengel's office. It was the last day to add a player to the roster and have him eligible for the World Series. We were trading for Enos Slaughter because Stengel said we needed another outfielder, so we had to send someone down to make room on the roster.

"They asked me to read through the list of players and to check each player's eligibility, to see who we could let go," he said. "I sat there thinking that I was a veteran and they wanted my opinion. As we read through the list I pointed out a few players who I thought could be sent down, a pitcher we had hardly used and a catcher who had been in only nine games. But each time they said, 'No, we might need him.' We started to go through the list a second time, and then halfway through it dawned on me."

"The Scooter" was done.

Rizzuto is survived by his wife, the former Cora Anne Esselborn, whom he married in 1943; daughters Cindy Rizzuto, Patricia Rizzuto and Penny Rizzuto Yetto; son Phil Rizzuto Jr.; and two granddaughters.

[Oswegowind 17]

I find it a little interesting that the bronx is burning series is showing this year. 1977 the yanks were counted out and were pretty far behind before coming back to win the world series.......

A deal with ESPN...someone is making a lot of money on this! LOL The Yanks signed to look like they couldn't hack it for a while but then out of the blue came alive with some seriousness...J/K

I think these youg players have lit a fire under the other players a** by them knowing that no job is safe.

This is very correct! Just look at how Melky Cabrera has become the centerfielder, Damon is going to be looking for a new job next year, cause he is being traded. Just watch, he is the next Sheffield. Melky is the next Bernie, home grown talent that can run down the ball, gun out runners, and hit in the .300's with 15-20 homers a year!

look who's in the lead RED SOX! You guys are still behind by 4 games. Here's the Standings for all of the AL

I think they might actually win another World Series.

Mike

Standings mean only a little right now, there is so much time left for a 4 game swing. I believe that by the time the Yanks meet the Sox at the end of the month they will be even. The Yankees will be ready to bury em and the Sox won't know what hit them. Clemens-Hughes-Mussina in the first set all three have something to prove. I think the Red Sox better look out for the Mariners...that is the team they need to stay ahead of!

As for Joba Chamberlain, he is amazing. 3 appearance, 5 innings, 8 strikeouts!!!! And the last one on Monday night against Huff when the ball just disappeared was ridiculous...even on the replay once it breaks I can't follow it!

Next: Ian Kennedy, the number 3 pitching prospect in the nation, also a Yankee....if you didn't already know, Hughes is #1, Chamberlain is #2...pretty nuts!

*Also R.I.P. Scooter Rizzuto! You will be missed by Yankee Fans everywhere!!!!!!*

Edited August 14, 2007 by Oswegowind

[ex-commish 490]

Shortly after 9/11 my dept engaged in a "Battle of the Badges" basketball game for charity. I had a connection with Phil Rizzuto and was able to get him to come to our game and commentate for us. He was a true gentlmen and in the phone conversation when I asked him to attend the game the ony thing he wanted was cannoli's and coffee which he had both before and aftet the game. He signed autographs and later came back to the firehouse and just chatted with us.

The baseball world has lost a true gentlemen. He will be missed.

[calhobs 110]

Phil RIP, I was wondering why He was not at Old Timers Day this year, He will be Missed, I guess heaven needed a shortstop

[RescueKujo 130]

All I know is it's not my Padres their bullpen went in the tank!!

[Guest pentax02839]

the boston red soxs all the way.

[ny10570 745]

The 61st home run call was definitely one of the best of all time. And so much better than "An a-bomb from a-rod".

Yeah Boston, you're in great shape. Went from 14 1/2 games up and are now just 4. Yeah, you guys are on cruise control right into 2nd place and may even miss the wild card. Now that would be hilarious. To all the Mets fans out there...you are now back where you belong, the second best team in NY.

Edited August 15, 2007 by ny10570