Hideki Matsui World Series MVP!

Hats off to this man. GODZILLA! What a guy. Congratulations to Hideki Matsui and all of his fans in Japan. He was an excellent addition to the Yankees for the past six seasons, and I?m glad he?s finally got a ring to show for it. With, or without him next year, I wish Matsui all the best.

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http://www.lennysyankees.com/2009/11/hideki-matsui-world-series-mvp.html

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Parade for Yankees scheduled for Friday (AP)

New York City will host a ticker-tape parade and ceremony in honor of the World Series champion New York Yankees. The parade, scheduled for Friday will begin on Broadway at Battery Place at 11 a.m. and continue northbound up the Canyon of Heroes to City Hall Plaza where Mayor Michael Bloomberg will present the Bronx [...]

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http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2009/11/05/parade-for-yankees-scheduled-for-friday-ap/

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Yankees win 27th World Series title (AP)

Paint the town in pinstripes! Nearly a decade after their dynasty ended on a blooper in the desert, the New York Yankees are baseball's best again. Hideki Matsui tied a World Series record with six RBIs, Andy Pettitte won on short rest and New York beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-3 in Game 6 on Wednesday [...]

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http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2009/11/05/yankees-win-27th-world-series-title-ap/

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Matsui clinches MVP with huge Game 6 (AP)

Hideki Matsui has the most curious habit at the plate. He never takes a practice swing once he steps into the batter's box. He saves all those meaty cuts for when he needs them. Matsui did all sorts of damage Wednesday night, setting a record with six RBIs in a World Series clincher and leading [...]

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http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2009/11/05/matsui-clinches-mvp-with-huge-game-6-ap/

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Andy Pettitte vs. Pedro Martinez: WAR by Age

More photos » by Mike Carlson - AP Browse more photos » With just a few minutes before first pitch in Game 6, let's take a look at how the two[...]

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http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2009/11/4/1115293/andy-pettitte-vs-pedro-martine
z

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World Series Game #6: Pedro Martinez vs. Andy
Pettitte

More photos » by Kathy Willens - AP

Tonight's winning pitcher.

Browse more photos »

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Current Series

Yankees win the series 3-2

Wed 10/28 WP: Cliff Lee (1 - 0)
LP: CC Sabathia (0 - 1)
1 - 6 loss Thu 10/29 WP: A.J. Burnett (1 - 0)
SV: Mariano Rivera
LP: Pedro Martinez (0 - 1)
3 - 1 win Sat 10/31 WP: Andy Pettitte (1 - 0)
LP: Cole Hamels (0 - 1)
8 - 5 win Sun 11/01 WP: Joba Chamberlain (1 - 0)
SV: Mariano Rivera
LP: Brad Lidge (0 - 1)
7 - 4 win Mon 11/02 WP: Cliff Lee (2 - 0)
SV: Ryan Madson
LP: A.J. Burnett (1 - 1)
6 - 8 loss

Philadelphia Phillies The Good Phight
@ New York Yankees Pinstripe Alley

Wednesday, Nov 4, 2009, 7:57 PM EST
Yankee Stadium

Pedro Martinez vs Andy Pettitte

 

It's time for No. 27

posted by Ed Valentine about 5 hours ago

5 comments | 0 recs

Girardi made the right call

posted by Ed Valentine 1 day ago

73 comments | 0 recs

Burnett goes bust, Utley heats up as Phillies take Game 5, 8-6

posted by Brij 1 day ago

1 comment | 0 recs

Complete Coverage >

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Who's going to be called daddy tonight?

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http://www.purplerow.com/2009/11/4/1114420/world-series-game-6-pedro-martinez

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Yankees fans revel in latest title (AP)

Hundreds of Yankees fans in New York City who hit the streets to revel in their team's 27th World Series championship have been greeted by an NYPD van, several patrol cars with lights flashing and officers standing on street corners. Fans in Yankees jerseys and hats who watched the 7-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies [...]

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http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2009/11/05/yankees-fans-revel-in-latest-title-ap/

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The Golden Goose Tale Updated

Peggy Noonan's description of those who prefer to aggressively expand the role of government - 'they think America is the goose that lays the golden egg' - rings true to me. Those who sincerely believe in government expansion have chosen incorrectly in my opinion. But those who do so to for political gain, since more voters dependent on government means more votes for those who seek to protect and expand that dependency, have betrayed the ideals our founders intended.

Who would die for a lie? To me, that question represents a powerful rationale for understanding what motivated the Disciples once Christ had been behind the question which

When I see those in government, both locally and in Washington, spend and tax and come up each day with new ways to spend and tax?health care, cap and trade, etc.?I think: Why aren't they worried about the impact of what they're doing? Why do they think America is so strong it can take endless abuse?

I think I know part of the answer. It is that they've never seen things go dark. They came of age during the great abundance, circa 1980-2008 (or 1950-2008, take your pick), and they don't have the habit of worry. They talk about their "concerns"?they're big on that word. But they're not really concerned. They think America is the goose that lays the golden egg. Why not? She laid it in their laps. She laid it in grandpa's lap.

They don't feel anxious, because they never had anything to be anxious about. They grew up in an America surrounded by phrases?"strongest nation in the world," "indispensable nation," "unipolar power," "highest standard of living"?and are not bright enough, or serious enough, to imagine that they can damage that, hurt it, even fatally.

We are governed at all levels by America's luckiest children, sons and daughters of the abundance, and they call themselves optimists but they're not optimists?they're unimaginative. They don't have faith, they've just never been foreclosed on. They are stupid and they are callous, and they don't mind it when people become disheartened. They don't even notice.

Noonan's article referenced is copied in full at end of post.

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We're Governed by Callous Children By PEGGY NOONAN
NOVEMBER 2, 2009

Americans feel increasingly disheartened, and our leaders don't even notice.

The new economic statistics put growth at a healthy 3.5% for the third quarter. We should be dancing in the streets. No one is, because no one has any faith in these numbers. Waves of money are sloshing through the system, creating a false rising tide that lifts all boats for the moment. The tide will recede. The boats aren't rising, they're bobbing, and will settle. No one believes the bad time is over. No one thinks we're entering a new age of abundance. No one thinks it will ever be the same as before 2008. Economists, statisticians, forecasters and market specialists will argue about what the new numbers mean, but no one believes them, either. Among the things swept away in 2008 was public confidence in the experts. The experts missed the crash. They'll miss the meaning of this moment, too.

The biggest threat to America right now is not government spending, huge deficits, foreign ownership of our debt, world terrorism, two wars, potential epidemics or nuts with nukes. The biggest long-term threat is that people are becoming and have become disheartened, that this condition is reaching critical mass, and that it afflicts most broadly and deeply those members of the American leadership class who are not in Washington, most especially those in business.

It is a story in two parts. The first: "They do not think they can make it better."

I talked this week with a guy from Big Pharma, which we used to call "the drug companies" until we decided that didn't sound menacing enough. He is middle-aged, works in a significant position, and our conversation turned to the last great recession, in the late mid- to late 1970s and early '80s. We talked about how, in terms of numbers, that recession was in some ways worse than the one we're experiencing now. Interest rates were over 20%, and inflation and unemployment hit double digits. America was in what might be called a functional depression, yet there was still a prevalent feeling of hope. Here's why. Everyone thought they could figure a way through. We knew we could find a path through the mess. In 1982 there were people saying, "If only we get rid of this guy Reagan, we can make it better!" Others said, "If we follow Reagan, he'll squeeze out inflation and lower taxes and we'll be America again, we'll be acting like Americans again." Everyone had a path through.

Now they don't. The most sophisticated Americans, experienced in how the country works on the ground, can't figure a way out. Have you heard, "If only we follow Obama and the Democrats, it will all get better"? Or, "If only we follow the Republicans, they'll make it all work again"? I bet you haven't, or not much.

This is historic. This is something new in modern political history, and I'm not sure we're fully noticing it. Americans are starting to think the problems we are facing cannot be solved.

Part of the reason is that the problems?debt, spending, war?seem too big. But a larger part is that our government, from the White House through Congress and so many state and local governments, seems to be demonstrating every day that they cannot make things better. They are not offering a new path, they are only offering old paths?spend more, regulate more, tax more in an attempt to make us more healthy locally and nationally. And in the long term everyone?well, not those in government, but most everyone else?seems to know that won't work. It's not a way out. It's not a path through.

And so the disheartenedness of the leadership class, of those in business, of those who have something. This week the New York Post carried a report that 1.5 million people had left high-tax New York state between 2000 and 2008, more than a million of them from even higher-tax New York City. They took their tax dollars with them?in 2006 alone more than $4 billion.

You know what New York, both state and city, will do to make up for the lost money. They'll raise taxes.

I talked with an executive this week with what we still call "the insurance companies" and will no doubt soon be calling Big Insura. (Take it away, Democratic National Committee.) He was thoughtful, reflective about the big picture. He talked about all the new proposed regulations on the industry. Rep. Barney Frank had just said on some cable show that the Democrats of the White House and Congress "are trying on every front to increase the role of government in the regulatory area." The executive said of Washington: "They don't understand that people can just stop, get out. I have friends and colleagues who've said to me 'I'm done.'" He spoke of his own increasing tax burden and said, "They don't understand that if they start to tax me so that I'm paying 60%, 55%, I'll stop."

He felt government doesn't understand that business in America is run by people, by human beings. Mr. Frank must believe America is populated by high-achieving robots who will obey whatever command he and his friends issue. But of course they're human, and they can become disheartened. They can pack it in, go elsewhere, quit what used to be called the rat race and might as well be called that again since the government seems to think they're all rats. (That would be you, Chamber of Commerce.)

And here is the second part of the story. While Americans feel increasingly disheartened, their leaders evince a mindless . . . one almost calls it optimism, but it is not that.

It is a curious thing that those who feel most mistily affectionate toward America, and most protective toward it, are the most aware of its vulnerabilities, the most aware that it can be harmed. They don't see it as all-powerful, impregnable, unharmable. The loving have a sense of its limits.

When I see those in government, both locally and in Washington, spend and tax and come up each day with new ways to spend and tax?health care, cap and trade, etc.?I think: Why aren't they worried about the impact of what they're doing? Why do they think America is so strong it can take endless abuse?

I think I know part of the answer. It is that they've never seen things go dark. They came of age during the great abundance, circa 1980-2008 (or 1950-2008, take your pick), and they don't have the habit of worry. They talk about their "concerns"?they're big on that word. But they're not really concerned. They think America is the goose that lays the golden egg. Why not? She laid it in their laps. She laid it in grandpa's lap.

They don't feel anxious, because they never had anything to be anxious about. They grew up in an America surrounded by phrases?"strongest nation in the world," "indispensable nation," "unipolar power," "highest standard of living"?and are not bright enough, or serious enough, to imagine that they can damage that, hurt it, even fatally.

We are governed at all levels by America's luckiest children, sons and daughters of the abundance, and they call themselves optimists but they're not optimists?they're unimaginative. They don't have faith, they've just never been foreclosed on. They are stupid and they are callous, and they don't mind it when people become disheartened. They don't even notice.
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Read The Full Article:
http://www.2thinkgood.com/2009/11/golden-goose-tale-updated.html

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Matsui named World Series MVP

Hideki Matsui won a well deserved World Series MVP award tonight. Matsui finished the series with a .615 batting average, 3 home runs and 8 runs batted in. Six of those runs batted in coming in game six alone. When a lot of Yankee players had their ups and downs in the series, Matsui was consistent.
Matsui will be a free agent this off season, and he really gave the Yankees something to think about. All season it was thought that the Yankees, who needed flexibility at the DH spot, would let Matsui walk. Now, that becomes a much tougher decision. I still think when all is said and done, the Yankees will make the smart business decision and let Matsui walk. It's been speculated that if Matsui doesn't stay with the Yankees that he will either return to Japan, or perhaps join Ichiro in Seattle. I hope he rides this championship back to Japan. He's had a very successful major league career. I'd hate to see him go to Seattle and toil there for a few years as his skills erode. Congratulations to Godzilla, one of the few Yankees I actually like.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.first2third.com/2009/11/matsui-named-world-series-mvp.html

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4 holdovers help Yanks win latest crown (AP)

Jorge Posada tapped Andy Pettitte on the chest when it was time to leave. Derek Jeter watched from the mound, knowing exactly what it meant. Along with Mariano Rivera who was waiting in the bullpen, they have been the heart of the New York Yankees for 14 seasons. And now after the Yankees beat the [...]

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http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2009/11/05/4-holdovers-help-yanks-win-latest-crown-ap/

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