The sport with the most parity...is baseball?

Since it's impossible to even watch the Weather Channel without hearing about NBA free agency, I'm going to promote the MLB a little bit right now.

John and I were talking about the salary cap in the NBA and how impossible it is to understand. And when you think about it, does it really work? Isn't the point of the salary cap to give teams an equal chance to win? Let's take a look.

NBA Championships since the 1999-2000 season

1. LA Lakers- 5 (2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010)
2. San Antonio Spurs- 3 (2003, 2005, 2007)
3. 3 Teams tied with 1- Detroit Pistons (2004), Miami Heat (2006), Boston Celtics (2008)
   

Now take a look at the World Series Champs since 2000

1. 2 teams tied with 2- NY Yankees (2000, 2009), Boston Red Sox (2004, 2007)
2. 6 teams tied with 1- Arizona Diamondbacks (2001), Anaheim Angels (2002), Florida Marlins (2003), Chicago White Sox (2005), St. Louis Cardinals (2006), Philadelphia Phillies (2008)

So whenever the Yankees "buy a World Series" everyone complains that the MLB needs a salary cap. But is it worth overhauling the entire system if it's not even working in other sports?

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Marlins 2- Yankees 1

Yankees 1 5 2
Marlins 2 5 0

WP: Josh Johnson (7-1, 7.O IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K)
LP: A.J. Burnett (5-4, 6.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K)
S: Matt Lindstrom (13)

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Johnson. It was a pitchers duel from the beginning, and Johnson won.

PLAY OF THE GAME: Dan Uggla's home run in the second inning. It gave the Marlins an early lead and they would never look back.

TURNING POINT OF THE GAME: Damon's run-scoring error in the sixth inning. It put the Yankees down 2-0, which is a lot the way Johnson was dealing tonight. It was a routine play that he should have made.

MICHAEL KAY QUOTE OF THE NIGHT:
Kay: My scorecard is starting to look like a guest list at my family reunion. Lots of K's.

GAME NOTES:

• The Yankees are now 2-3 in their last 5 games. In the last five games, they played the NATIONALS AND THE MARLINS! Somebody needs to call a closed-door team meeting and wake everybody up. This team has too much potential to be playing like this.
  
• The Marlins turned 3 double plays today, all killing potential rallies. They have been grounding into an awful lot of double plays, and I don't know what Girardi can do to fix it, but he needs to.
• The Yankees committed 2 errors today, and Damon's cost them the game. Stupid mistakes are costing them games, and it needs to stop.
• It seems like the bullpen is finally coming around. With Bruney coming back and Hughes stepping up, the roles are more defined and the results are better.
  

TOMORROW:
Yankees at Marlins, 5:05 pm Whatever they call this Stadium
C.C. Sabathia vs. Chris Volstad

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Game 68: Yankees at Marlins

YANKEES (38-29, 2nd place AL East)
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Posada C
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Cabrera CF
Berroa 3B
Burnett RHP

Pitching: A.J. Burnett (5-3, 4.46)

MARLINS (33-36, 3rd place NL East)
Coghlan LF
Bonafacio 3B
Ramirez SS
Cantu 1B
Uggla 2B
Hermida RF
Ross CF
Baker C
Johnson RHP

Pitching: RHP Josh Johnson (6-1, 2.76)

Burnett on fire: Burnett is 3-1 in his last four starts, including last Sunday where he pitched 7 shutout innings against the Mets.

Passing the Babe: Derek Jeter is tied with Babe Ruth with 424 career doubles. Jeter's next double will move him fourth place alone behind Lou Gehrig, Bernie Williams, and Don Mattingly.

X-Man: Xavier Nady played 5 innings in a minor league game and his arm responded well to throwing the baseball. He may start a rehab assignment sometime next week.

UPDATE 8:09: Burnett picks up a hit after Pettitte got an RBI double last night. Maybe they should have had these two in the lineup against the Nationals.

UPDATE 8:25: Okay, so we're through 5 innings, and Josh Johnson has only given up one hit. To A.J. Burnett. Imagine if this guy throws a 1-hitter, and the only hit he gave up is to the opposing pitcher.

UPDATE 8:41: I just read this on Scott Proctor's Arm, and I just have this to say: We don't (descriptive adjective) want you either Jonathan (expletive) Papelscum.

UPDATE 8:51: Damon just flat out missed that ball. That was pretty pathetic. And the fact that the official scorer scored that play a double is stupid.

UPDATE 8:56: Damon should have made that play, but Burnett needs to suck it up and pick Damon up by getting out of this inning right now.

UPDATE 9:07: I've got a fever, and the only prescription, is MORE COWBELL!

UPDATE 9:12: I don't get why you can't assume the double play. This is the major leagues, they should be able to turn a Taylor-made double play. If they don't, why punish the pitcher?

UPDATE 9:29: This is why having a good bench is a good thing. It gives Girardi options. Which is why Nady or Swisher are not getting traded. And Brett Gardner is an automatic stolen base when he comes in.

UPDATE 9:47: In a matter of minutes, we will surely be asked whether the Yankees "have a rally in their bones."

UPDATE 9:55: And Cano grounds into another double play and the Yanks drop another one.

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Yankees 5-Marlins 1

Yankees (38-29) 5 13 1
Marlins (33-36) 1 3 0

WP: Andy Pettitte (7-3, 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K)
LP: Sean West (2-2, 4.0 IP, 10 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 7 K)

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Andy Pettitte. He shut down the Marlins from the get-go. He let up only 3 hits and a walk. Most importantly, he gave them 7 innings, which is always good. This bullpen will pitch better when they don't have to go 4-5 innings a night.

PLAY OF THE GAME: Melky Cabrera's home run in the third inning. It was a no-doubter to left field, and his first home run away from the Stadium (aka his firs REAL home run).

TURNING POINT OF THE GAME: Pettitte's RBI double in the second inning. When the opposing pitcher starts giving up double to the American League pitcher, it is not a good sign for the other team.

MICHAEL KAY QUOTE OF THE NIGHT:
Paul O'Neill: There was a couple of times where the ball just clipped my button and there would be a tick noise and the umpire would jump right out and give me first base.
Michael Kay: Then it would be a good idea to wear really big buttons then. Like Mickey Mouse.

GAME NOTES:

• Despite scoring 5 runs and winning the game, the Yankees still left 11 runners on base. If they get a couple more big hits, the game is out of reach a lot earlier.
• The Yankees decided they were going to go back to working the count and drawing walks tonight, as they earned 6 walks after drawing only 4 in the past two days.
  
• Bruney and Tomko also did a good job out of the pen for the Yanks tonight, we need people to step up for the 7th and 8th inning roles.
  
• The X-Man, Xavier Nady, played four innings in right field and went 2-3 at the plate in a minor league exhibition game. Hopefully they can get him back before the end of this road trip, they need his bat in there since Matsui still can't play the outfield.
  

TOMORROW:
Yankees at Marlins
A.J. Burnett vs Josh Johnson (who I have actually heard of)

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GAME 67: Yankees at Marlins

YANKEES (37-28, 2nd place AL East)
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Posada C
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Cabrera CF
Berroa 3B
Pettitte LHP

Pitching: LHP Andy Pettitte (6-3, 4.52).

MARLINS (37-28, 3rd place, NL East)
Coghlan LF
Helms 3B
Ramirez SS
Cantu 1B
Uggla 2B
Paulino C
Hermida RF
Ross CF
West LHP

Pitching: LHP Sean West (2-1, 3.00).

Cy No-name: I've never heard of the Marlins starter, so it looks like it is going to be a long night.

A-Rod Homecoming: A-Rod will play the first regular season game of his career in Miami, his hometown. (Oh, so that's where the confusion about the World Baseball Classic comes from. I forgot that the border of the United States and the Dominican Republic ran through Miami).

.333 is a good batting average, not winning percentage: The Yankees are 3-6 in their last nine games.

Rain drops are falling on my head: So the Yankees leave here and it stops raining (it's still crappy, just not raining) and, according to PeteAbe, it is raining in South Beach.

Extra cavalry: With the game being in a National League park, there is no DH. So Matsui is available as a pinch hitter.

Vote Tex: Mark Teixiera needs help getting into the All-Star game starting lineup. If you needed any extra motivation, Kevin Pukeilus of the team-that-shall-not-be-named is in first place.

UPDATE 7:15: I just got back home, and the lineup is different. A-Rod will get today and tomorrow off. Jeter looked winded after running hard out of the box. I guess that's what happens when a guy used to playing everyday rides the pine for two days. And with that double, Jeter tied Babe Ruth on the all-time Yankees double list.

UPDATE 7:21: The Yankees are very adept at grounding into double plays to kill big rallies. They only push one run across when it should have been more.

UPDATE 7:23: I just realized that the last time the Yankees were here was Game 5 of the 2003 World Series. That was the game where David Wells only went 1 inning and the Yanks screwed up the rundown play that gave up two runs. I remember my baseball coaches going over rundown for 30 minutes the day after that happened.

UPDATE 7:30: Whoever is in charge of selling the naming rights for the Marlins and Dolphins stadium must really suck at his (or her) job.

UPDATE 7:32: Am I hallucinating? Did Angel Berroa just get a hit? And an RBI? On the same play?

UPDATE 7:33: Am I hallucinating? Did Andy Pettitte just get a hit? And an RBI? On the same play?

UPDATE 7:35: Great, now Pettitte has to run (if you can call it that) the bases.

UPDATE 7:40: Good to see that the Yankees finally tried looking at some film of the opposing pitcher.

UPDATE 8:36: Pettite got through the 4th inning with 68 pitches. He needs to get through 6 and maybe into the 7th.

UPDATE 8:42: Just looked at the box score and every Yankee is "at the party," as Ken Singleton would say. Everyone has a hit, which is weird with Berroa and Pettitte in the lineup.

UPDATE 9:10: Pettitte gets through 6 with 97 pitches, and 3 hits. He's been grimacing a lot today, so my guess is he's done.

UPDATE 9:25: Well, I was dead wrong about Pettitte, as he gets through the 7th.

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