Rodriguez is 0-8 with six strikeouts against Philadelphia so far.

His lack of contribution in game one helped the Phillies steal the first game. Luckily for him – and Yankes fans, starved for a winner after a whole decade without a World Series championship – three high-priced Bronx Bomber free agent acquisitions from this year and years past helped the Yanks salvage game two.

Matsui, a Yankee since signing a $21 million, three-year contract in 2001, led the team with a 2-3 night that included a home run and a walk.

Two of this year’s $423.5 million trio of free agents also came up big tonight. Mark Teixeira, who signed an eight-year, $180 million contract back in December, also homered.

A.J. Burnett, who signed a five-year, $82.5 million contract a few days after Teixeira (paltry by Yankees standards, probably because of the injury risk he carries), threw seven strong innings. He gave up just one run and struck out nine.

Those performances loomed large tonight after the highest of the high-paid free agents, CC Sabathia (seven years, $160 million – how do you think Burnett feels about that after tonight), pitched seven strong innings but was bested by Cliff Lee on Wednesday night.

For the record, players the Yankees actually developed (Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano, Brett Gardner, Melky Cabrera and Jorge Posada – or just under half of the 11 position players who played tonight) went a combined 4-13 with one run and one RBI. Mariano Rivera pitched two innings for the save.

(Johnny Damon, who the Yanks lured away from the rival Red Sox for a $52 million, four-year deal in 2005, went 0-4.)

So the high-buck Yankees salvaged the split as the series heads to Philadelphia where the slightly less high-salaried Phillies will host the next three games starting Saturday.

Can’t hardly wait.

$423.5 million and three of the top free agents on the market last offseason later they’re back in the World Series.

Congratulations, Yankees. You opened your pocketbooks to the point where it would have been almost impossible for you to screw it up. And I’m guessing you’ll win the Fall “Classic” in five games at most.

Parity?

Ha!

But a woman who sued the Philadelphia Phillies when the team played a switcheroo on her 12-year-old daughter after the girl caught Ryan Howard’s 200th homerun ball …

Well, I think it’s too bad it got to the point where the family took legal action, but shame on the Phillies and on Howard for taking advantage of a naive kid to get the slugger his souvenir ball.

According to CNN, after the girl caught the ball a Florida Marlins representative took her to the Phillies’ clubhouse where a Philadelphia rep told the child and her brother that if she left the ball she could have Howard sign it. When she returned with her grandfather after the game, the team provided her with a ball signed by Howard, but not the original ball.

First off, it’s commonplace for fans to trade landmark balls back to players for different merchandise. Otherwise the fans have the option of taking the balls onto the open market. According to the CNN story, the Howard ball might have been worth a couple thousand dollars at most.

But quotes in the story make it sound like the girl, Jennifer Valdivia, wanted the ball more for sentimental reasons. And that also is her right.

So, again, shame on the Phillies for taking advantage of the girl and her family by playing the switcheroo. Shame on Howard for not meeting with her to sign the ball – or offer her some alternative such as a game-used bat or another ball signed by Howard. He had the chance to create a fan for life – and possibly get his ball back in the process.

But instead Howard and the team played the role of bully. And so yes, I am glad the family got a lawyer and filed suit. When notified that the girl and her lawyer were seeking the ball and compensation in excess of $15,000 Valdivia got her ball back.

Chalk one up for the little gal in this case. And thank you Phillies for making my rooting interest in your playoff series easy. Go Rockies.

It’s bad enough that during Sports Center–the show that made its claim to fame by showing highlight after highlight of virtually all of the previous day’s sporting events–from the big game to the largely irrelevant ones–was repeatedly pimping their story on the history of the Pie to the Face in Major League Baseball.

Truly ground breaking sports journalism there.

But on top of that, they once again managed to put their ESPyaNkees slant on things–in the story preview sidebar, they managed to squeeze in a headline as a lead in to the story, entitled “Yankees Walkoffs.”

That’s right, they took a stupid story, and put the Yankees spin on it, because apparently Yankees starting pitcher AJ Burnett has pied several players in the face this season after walkoff wins, including Melky Cabrera, Alex Rodriguez, Johnny Damon, and some rookie catcher that was a September call-up (Francisco Cervelli maybe?  I was so enthralled by the thought, time and effort put into the piece that I missed the name).

Glad I can once again go six months without checking out Sports Center…

His reward? Florida Marlins officials reportedly talked with Howard Johnson about a position with the organization and rumors are spreading that Gonzalez may be fired.

Owner Jeffrey Loria, a frequent target of Brushbackpitch.com for being the cheapest owner in Major League Baseball, actually believes this team underachieved, according to SportsIllustrated.com’s Jon Heyman.

“We don’t talk about rumors; we never have,” team President David Samson reportedly told reporters after the game, according to a story at the team’s MLB.com site. “The answer is after every season we always evaluate everyone, so that is normal. We’re all disappointed. Certainly, winning 87 or 88 games is a positive for the organization, but our goal every year is to make the playoffs. That’s that. Rumors come out all the time this time of year about all sorts of things. From our perspective, there is nothing different about this year than the 10 others I’ve had in baseball.”

The team’s goal might be making the playoffs. But when you’ve go into the season expecting to have a centerfielder competing for rookie of the year (Cameron Maybin) and he flops mightily; when you have a leadoff hitter start the season with 14 hits, a homer, and nine runs in the season’s first five games only to see him finish with a .269 average and a .306 on-base percentage (Emilio Bonifacio); when Jeremy Hermida gets 429 at-bats when he has proven to be a part-time player; and most importantly when team ownership, year after year after year, trades almost anyone approaching arbitration (see previous BBP posts on the team trading Scott Olsen, Josh Willingham, Mike Jacobs, Kevin Gregg, et al) – yes, when all of these things happen before and during one season, team ownership should be thrilled with 87 wins.

But no. Loria wants to spend south of $40 million on player contracts, despite receiving nearly two-thirds of that amount in revenue sharing alone and he wants his manager to take a team full of rookies and Major League misfits to the playoffs.

Is Howard Johnson going to win more than 87 games with this bunch?

Then again, Loria has a history of this kind of move. After an 11-31 start in 2006, Joe Girardi led the Marlins back into the outer realm of the Wild Card hunt before the team finished 78-84 with the youngest and, yes, once again lowest paid team in the league.

Girardi was named manager of the year that year. But he reportedly didn’t get along with Loria, so the owner canned him. How did that turn out?

Well, put Girardi on the highest-paid team this season and he led the Yankees to a 103 win season. Now, granted, ownership bought him a pretty nice hand to play during the offseason. But Girardi, nonetheless, is a skilled manager.

Fredi Gonzalez appears to be a skilled manager as well. He overachieved with this collection of talent. If this group is kept together (yeah, right) there are plenty of young guns that could develop into the playoff team Loria wants to see. But if Gonzalez pays the price for only winning 87 games this year by losing his job it will be the biggest screw job since who knows when.

But it looks like there’s a good chance that Gonzalez will follow Girardi out the door.

Loria, look in the mirror. The person you should be firing is yourself.

In reality, while Jeter has had a fantastic season, he’s nowhere near the best MVP candidate for 2009. Look at the work Joe Mauer, Miguel Cabrera and others have done compared with Jeter and that’s obvious. Then take a look at Jeter’s teammate, Mark Teixeira, and hopefully it’s clear to most impartial observers that Jeter, while a valuable player and by almost all accounts a decent guy, isn’t even the most credible candidate on his own team.

Really what it most proved was that the Wall Street Journal should stick to business reporting. In past years it would have been a perfect target for a Fire Joe Morgan deconstruction, but unfortunately that Web site has shut down. A friend and former colleague at the Star Tribune took a credible FJM shot at the WSJ’s performance on his Randball blog.

While his work was solid the masters were at the helm as guest editors of Deadspin for a day. And they came through, brilliantly exposing the holes in the Journal’s argument. Read and enjoy …

Then let’s have some debate. Who is the AL MVP for 2009? In the NL it would appear to me as though Albert Pujols is the clear-cut winner. But there are a handful of legit candidates in the AL. Who would y’all vote for?

My vote? As a local, it’d be nice to see Joe Mauer win. He’s had a fantastic season. But facts are facts and I believe winning plays a role in how “valuable” you are to your team. And the Twins were roughly .500 without him the first month of the season and they’ve been roughly a .500 team with him. Taking homerism out, I’d probably choose Cabrera. The Tigers will likely win the AL Central. And while they aren’t without flaws, without Cabrera that team probably finishes in third place.

During Wednesday’s ESPN game between Tampa and the best money can buy, the New York Yankees, the Rays took an early 2-0 lead. In the 5th inning, Derek Jeter lined a ball to deep centerfield. B.J. Upton jogged slowly after the ball, then threw up his hands as it hit on the warning track and then bounced into the stands for a ground-rule double.

I haven’t seen the entire game. But the announcers are talking like this isn’t the first issue the Rays have had with Upton tonight. It definitely would not have been the first time manager Joe Maddon had been confronted with an issue due to an alleged lack of hustle on Upton’s part - he benched Upton at least twice in 2008 for just that issue.

ESPN announcer Dan Shulman indicated that if it’s the best he can do because of an ankle issue, he shouldn’t be in the game. And that if it is the best he is choosing to do out of frustration or laziness, he also shouldn’t be in the game.

He’s right.

No doubt, it’s been a frustrating year for Upton. He hasn’t hit well for average (.230s all season) or for power (just nine homers) and he’s been hampered by some injuries. But the one thing you can control is effort. Jeter’s fly ball looked to be over Upton’s head regardless. But his lack of hustle in attempting to catch it was troubling.

After the inning Upton was seen talking with a trainer. Manager Joe Maddon then patted him on the shoulder. Announcers said he then headed up the tunnel to the locker room. Upton did not return to the game.

Announcer Steve Phillips remarked between innings that “I’m glad to see it was physical … Players sometimes say yes when they shouldn’t” when it comes to playing through injuries.

I hope it’s physical too. If it isn’t physical the announcers might have been right when they said earlier in the broadcast that, despite Upton’s potential with the bat and superior skills in the field, it might be time for the Rays to look at moving him to another team.

Physical problems are one thing. It’s admirable for a player to attempt to play through pain, even when sometimes they shouldn’t.

Lack of effort is another. That’s disrespectful to teammates, to fans, to management and, in the case of someone as talented as Upton, it’s disrespectful to Upton himself.

Umm, if you weren’t really planning on talking about it, why even bother to bring it up?

Upon further review of the Internet, I guess he was asked by something called NECN Radio (okay, why did they bring it up?) on Wednesday about his plans where he basically said the same thing he indicated on his blog.

Schilling appears to be a reasonably intelligent guy who is outspoken about his  strong opinions. He campaigned for John McCain last year. But has he ever done anything that indicates he’s got the chops to be a U.S. Senator?

I mean, what’s next? Schilling running for Senate would only be eclipsed in weirdness by some clown in the state of Kentucky wanting to open up an alcohol-free bar.

Then again, Arnold Schwarzenegger is governor of California, Jesse Ventura was governor of Minnesota and Al Franken is now that state’s second senator.

I need a Tylenol. Sometimes this country makes my head hurt.

Tony and I woke up in Louisville, Ky. on Monday and started our week with a tour of the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, a building that just sort of pops up in the business district out of nowhere.

A guide, definitely schooled in the history of the game and the bat-making process, led us on a roughly 45-minute tour of the company’s history. The current employees helped out a lot too, as one guy demonstrated the old process for making a bat that included carving tool and lathe.

It used to take Louisville Slugger workers 30 minutes to carve a pro model bat. Now in the automated machines, they can do one in 30 seconds.  Lacquering and finishing pro model bats is still done by hand—they were working on an order for Alex Gordon while we were there.

After the tour we were able to look at several displays on the both the bat-making process and on the different styles of bats they’ve made for major league players over their 100+ years of being in the business.

After embarrassing ourselves in the cages at the Slugger museum, we made the four hour trek to St. Louis, to check out the new Busch Stadium in a Cardinals game versus the Reds.

To us, the new Busch Stadium ranks somewhere alongside Jacobs Field. I think aesthetically we both liked PNC Park in Pittsburgh a little better. And I know I still have Camden Yards and Coors Field at the top of my list of favorite parks.

But what makes the new Busch, and the city of St. Louis as a whole, stand out in a baseball crowd is the atmosphere at the ballpark. Fans appreciate the nuances of the game – several times they cheered sacrifice flies and sacrifice bunts as they scored runs and advanced runners.

Furthermore, they are respectful of the efforts of opponents as well. When Willy Taveras went flying face first into the centerfield wall in chasing a Matt Holliday drive Monday night, they remained silent while he was on the ground regaining his senses.

When Taveras got to his feet the crowd cheered. This didn’t seem to be just polite applause celebrating the fact that he was alright. It was loud, real applause for a guy who had sacrificed his body in an effort to make a play (though I’m sure it helped that he missed the catch and Holliday ended up on third base).

Maybe this would have happened in other places too – but I’ve heard good things about Cardinals fans in many cities I’ve been and they’ve never done anything to prove wrong any of the accolades. They are widely considered educated, good fans of the game and I each time I’ve been here I’ve felt they’ve earned that praise.

I’ve been to St. Louis for ballgames three times now – twice in the old park and once in the new building. The new Busch is definitely an upgrade but it also hasn’t turned these fans soft.

Anyway, the Cardinals’ 4-1 win Monday brings the professional baseball part of our week long tour to a close.  Today, we’re making our turn to the home stretch—but we do have one more stop to make—they built it, so we’re coming.

Tony and I made our first journey through PNC Park this afternoon It was interesting seeing the jerseys on sale in the team’s souvenir shop – the most recognizable name was Ryan Doumit.

The flags flying on light poles outside the ballpark featured guys like Garrett Jones and Ramon Vazquez. This is a team seemingly intent on trading every position player on its roster.

As we wandered PNC Park, with its jutting outfield and views of several bridges and the skyline in the outfield, it’s almost as though ownership thinks the beauty of the ballpark outweighs the need to spend the money to put a major league product on the field. Yes, Delwyn Young might be a perfectly fine role player. But he batted third in the lineup today.

I said to my brother “Any team with Delwyn Young batting third doesn’t have a good immediate future.”

He reminded me that Young was leading the team in some hitting categories. Again, I said “Any team with Delwyn Young leading the team in major hitting categories doesn’t have a good immediate future.”

It’s not that the cupboard is completely bare. Stephen Pearce hit two homeruns today. And Andrew McCutchen has been as good as advertised since the team brought him up.

But deals like the one that allegedly cleared space for McCutchen – Nate McLouth to Atlanta for three prospects – are the reason I am suspicious of team ownership’s motives. If they had a history of turning those deals into an improved product or at least into improved prospects for the future, one might be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. But that’s not the case with these guys.

Out of curiosity I rewound through yahoo to find out what the Pirates’ starting lineup was on April 2, 2008. It is listed below. Shockingly, seven of the eight position players are no longer with the team. A look at the team’s first five starting pitchers of the 2008 season revealed that two are still on the team, two have been traded, and one is out of baseball. There was talk that one of the guys that is left, Zach Duke, was on the block before the deadline.

The lineup and where those players are currently is below:

Pirates 2008 opening day lineup
CF McLouth – Atlanta
2B Sanchez – San Francisco
LF Bay – Boston
1B LaRoche – Atlanta via Boston
RF Nady – New York Yankees – out for the season
C Doumit – Still in Pittsburgh
3B Bautista – Toronto
SS Wilson – Seattle

Starting Rotation
T. Gorzelanny – Cubs
Z. Duke – Started today
M. Morris – Out of baseball
P. Maholm – Still in Pittsburgh
I. Snell – Seattle

Sure, some of the prospects the Pirates received in trades for those guys may have decent futures. But at some point, for a team to make a move forward, it has to commit to keeping some of its good players to build around. In trading McLouth the team took one of those building blocks and shipped him away for a bunch of “could bes” and “might bes” instead of moving him to a corner outfield position and pairing him with McCutchen.

Such moves might have been understandable in the cases of players like Jason Bay, who was soon to be heading toward free agency. But McLouth isn’t just some fly-by-night, one-year-wonder. He was an All-Star and Gold Glove winner in 2008, and more importantly, he was under contract for a couple more years at affordable prices. Sure. McCutchen was ready for the bigs. But why couldn’t McLouth move to a corner outfield spot?

Then the Buckos would have had two legitimate young stars to build around – M&M Brothers akin to Minnesota’s Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau. Instead, the Pirates close in on the trade deadline in full shed mode. The Pirates went into Wednesday’s game with legitimate prospects in McCutchen and first baseman Stephen Pearce, with youngsters like outfielder Brandon Moss and third baseman Andy LaRoche on the bench.

But the lineup was also dotted by recycled guys like Delwyn Young, Garrett Jones at first base and Ramon Vazquez at shortstop.

Sure, they got decent hauls for some of these guys. Tim Alderson, the pitcher they got from San Francisco for Freddy Sanchez, is a legitimate talent.

But don’t you eventually have to pick a couple guys and build around them? Don’t the fans eventually deserve for the team to grow around some of these guys, supplementing them when they look promising rather than jettisoning them as they have done so often in recent years?

Instead, the Pirates remain Major League Baseball’s current farm system for every other team in the league. They haven’t had a winning season since Barry Bonds took off for San Francisco and they’re constantly trading off vets approaching their big contract years.

As we wandered around the beautiful ballpark in the heart of downtown at the convergence of three rivers we both remarked at what a shame it was. Pittsburgh is a proud, hard-working town that is passionate about its sports teams. The Steelers have won six Super Bowls. The Penguins have gone to back-to-back Stanley Cups, winning the last one. The city has rebuilt itself after years of struggles as the steel industry slowly sagged in importance.

As it sits, the Pirates continue to sag in importance as well. Championship flags from World Series wins past barely flew in the heat and humidity of the first 90-plus degree day of 2009 in Pittsburgh. I like a good rebuilding project. I like building from within. But it’s questionable to me whether there’s really a plan here. With the moves at this year’s deadline and the others made since the start of the 2008 season, you can make a pretty good argument that the decade-and-a-half rebuilding project is doing nothing more than starting again.