MLB News and Notes

Ken Griffey retired from baseball last night. He will go down in history as one of the greatest players of all time. I am a little suprised he did it now and not at the end of the season but I guess he just realized it wasn't happening anymore. He should of been the story of the day but was overshadowed by Jim Joyce. Jim Joyce is the umpire who cost the pitcher Galaragga a perfect game. If you didn't see it or hear about and I am sure everyone has by now it was the last out of a perfect game and the hitter was clearly out by a full step or more and Joyce called him safe so the perfect game became a one hit shutout. I have to give credit for the pitcher who is handling this so well saying he will tell his kids and grandkids one day that he did pitch a perfect game but this is what happened. The comissioner and some other baseball officials are meeting about it now but I don't think you can overturn it, it would take away from the moment and also this will be remembered more because of what happened. It may also open up a pandora's box situation. This will definitely spark the debate of instant replay though, I like how they do it with the home runs but I am not a big fan of it and still like the human element. These umpires have gotten worse and worse though and something has to be done, maybe punishing them or training them better, I don't really know what the best answer is but something needs to be done. I am sure no one feels worse than Jim Joyce though.

The Big Unit finally withdraws

Randy Johnson aka- The Big Unit announced his retirement this evening. He finished his career with 303 wins which is 22nd all time. Here are some more of his career accomplishments: His first game was with the Expos in Sept 1988 against the Pirates. 1st strikeout victim was Orestes Destrade He played 22 years for 6 teams 1999-2002 won 4 straight Cy Youngs-won 5 overall 2001 was a World Champion with Arizona and co MVP of the World Series along with Curt Shilling He won 17 games in back to back seasons with the Yankees in 2005-06. His 10.67 strikeouts per 9 innings were 1st all-time for starting pitchers 188 hitbatsmen is 3rd all-time 4.875 strikeouts are second all-time and 1st among left handed pitchers 7.24 hits allowed per 9 innings pitched is 10th all-time 37 shutouts is 57th all-time 20 strikeouts in a game on May 8, 2001 He pitched a perfect game on May 18, 2004 He is the 5th pitcher in MLB history to pitch a no-hitter in both leagues joining Cy Young, Jim Bunning, Nolan Ryan and Hideo Nomo. These stats were courtesy of Wikipedia. I will have more on Randy Johnson tomorrow, some comments he made at the press conference and other thoughts on his career.

Andy not only dandy but almost perfect

Andy Pettitte was awesome tonight coming 7 outs away from a perfect game. He had 2 outs and no one on in the 7th inning when a hard grounder was hit to Jerry Hairston Jr. at third and he booted it. The next guy got a hit and then he got out of the inning. If Jerry Hairston Jr. made that play you wonder what would of happened as he would of been in the 8th inning with a perfect game. He ended up giving up a run on 2 hits with 0 walks and 8 strikeouts. Brian Bruney came on in the ninth giving up 2 hits and getting one out before Mariano Rivera had to come in for his 33rd save in a row and 37th of the season. The Yankees offense was led by Nick Swisher who had 3 hits and a rbi. Derek Jeter had a hit and a walk and Johnny Damon had a rbi single. Mark Teixeira had a hit and a walk, Robinson Cano had 2 hits and 2 rbi's and Melky Cabrera had 2 hits. The story of the game clearly though was Andy Pettitte, he completed 8 innings for the first time this season. I really thought he might pitch the perfect game, that is how good he looked tonight but it wasn't meant to be and he was good about it after the game. He said that Jerry Hairston wouldn't look at him and finally he had to go up to him and just hug him and say it is ok. He also said he told him I didn't want to pitch 9 innings anyway. The Yankees will play game 2 tomorrow with A.J. Burnett on the mound, A.J. is trying to get a win for the first time in 7 starts.

Notes from around MLB

Congratulations to Mark Buehrle of the White Sox who tossed a perfect game today against the Tampa Bay Rays. Tampa Bay is in on Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay, they are trying to make a big splash so watch out for them Yankees and Red Sox. How don't the Mets just fire Tony Bernezard, what evidence do they need, he obviously is a hot head and his main job is the minor league system which just stinks. If anyone did their normal job like he does his they would of been fired long ago, well I guess welcome to the Mets world, they are pretty incompetent all around. I am betting the Yankees make a trade for a Jarrod Washburn type to add depth to their rotation, Joe Girardi said today that Joba's innings limit is a concern.

Yanks go for 2 in a row over Tigers

The New York Yankees will try and win their second consecutive game over the Tigers this afternoon at the Stadium. Today marks the 10 year anniversary of David Cones perfect game and he will be on hand to throw out the first pitch and I am sure they will have some kind of pregame ceremony. I will be heading out to the stadium in about half an hour so not sure if I will have the lineup and notes before then but if not I will be back later with the postgame recap and notes if any. There was one not from yesterday that I forgot to mention. Sergio Mitre will be called up and be the fifth starter on Tuesday against Baltimore. He has been performing well at AAA and the Yankees feel Alfredo Aceves is too valuable out of the bullpen. Enjoy the game today and I will try to put something up before I leave if there is anything.