Depressed about the prevailing of evil last night? Suggesting cockamamie like: the Phillies should have pulled Pedro with an 0-2 count on Matsui in third? Well, it gets worse.

Before you go into your no-good Yankee-loving boss’s office and try to shatter him by asserting that rooting for that organization lowers him as a businessman, you should unfortunately know that the Yankees haven’t been operating under the commonly failed business practices that some of us assumed all along.

David Goldman, of CNNMoney.com and loyal Red Sox fan, reluctantly reports this morning that the Yankees ran one of the most efficient operations in the league this year:

Adding up the dollars and cents. Applying a Society of Baseball Research metric, the Yankees were actually more efficient with their payroll this past season than were the hapless cross-town Mets, Cleveland Indians and basement-dwelling Washington Nationals.

The World Champs were only slightly less thrifty with their salaries than the Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros, and Kansas City Royals, all of whom missed the playoffs.

By those calculations, the Yankees paid $3.2 million per “marginal victory.” That’s nearly twice as efficient as the Mets, who only won 70 games despite their $149 million payroll and paid $5.8 million per marginal victory.

In addition, a rough estimate of the team’s revenue in 2009 shows the Yankees cashed in on their success more than any other team. Multiply the number of people coming to games by the average ticket price ($73),and the Yankees took in about $270 million this season, or $69 million more than they shelled out for their payroll.

Sigh. However, if you’re a New Yorker and a Yankee hater - the pinnacle of the unbiased majority in this debate, right? - take solace in an undeniable fact. What primarily helped the Yankees develop this business model are the ticket, food, and merch sales contained within that billion dollar stadium. And, if the stadium doesn’t get built, the Yankees wouldn’t be able to leverage the astronomical price mark up of those items. And if the government subsidies for the stadium that came down don’t, then the stadium don’t get built. Whether you’re a Yankee fan or not, if you’re a New Yorker you’re unwillingly paying down that grant money, and in turn fueling the stadium funds that helped pay player salaries and the luxury taxes attached to those salaries.

And, as Goldman points out, it’s a sad reality and it’s working - but on paper, in no less evil of a fashion than before.

Yankees got their money’s worth (CNN)

SportsRadioInterviews.com posted the skinny from Joe Girardi’s interview with Mike Francesca on WFAN today. Couple of intriguing thoughts swirling around in the manager’s well-bic’d noggin approaching game time - he’d be willing to throw Mariano for 45 pitches and isn’t ruling out bringing him in in the seventh inning.

From Sports Radio Interviews, on Mariano coming in the 7^th inning:

“Well yeah you are going to think about that. I mean you think about if you can get him to throw one pitch per batter we could start him too.

Mariano threw 39 pitches and got two innings worth of outs in Game 2, but as Tom Verducci pointed out on SI.com, that was a rare feat:

It was the most pitches he has thrown in a game in two years. Of the 74 times Rivera has pitched in the postseason since he became a closer, he has thrown more than 39 pitches only two times, and both were in potential clinchers: the epic 48-pitch outing in 2003 ALCS Game 7, and the 40 pitches in the Yankees’ ill-fated 2004 ALCS Game 4.

Frankly, for once, I’d like to see it come down to who’s coming up - like say, Utley, Howard, Werth in the top of the seventh? For example, Purist Bleed Pinstripes posted an interesting analysis on Facebook of why Mariano, the best reliever on the team, should have been brought in to face Hunter, Guerrero and Morales in Game 5 of the ALCS. And as an aside, Mo went 2+ in that 13-inning affair that was Game 2 of the ALCS. How great if Chase Utley slithers out of the dugout to face Rivera tonight prior to the beer being shut down? (You then see veins start to exponentially appear on Girardi’s well bic’d temples with every foul ball.)

Only a few hours till we’ll know which way this goes. Personally, I’m just trying to get the word out on this so that whatever he does we can hopefully second guess the guy tomorrow. Enjoy the game, keep it going Phillies!

I know it ended two days ago - possibly, when this guy finally crossed the finish line - but I had to follow up on Edward Norton’s running of the New York City Marathon - for I haven’t been this enthused about Norton since the first time I saw the final scene in Primal Fear.

I posted on Friday that Norton was running in his first ever marathon to raise money for Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust in East Africa. According to Ecorazzi, that little initiative raised $763,000 - with Norton pulling in over 300 K himself! He even brought these dudes - actual Maasai he met while on an excursion to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro - over from Africa to run the race with him.

That picture and the boku charity dollars don’t fully encapsulate Norton’s marathon badass however; he also murdered the course. 40-year-old Norton finished the 26.2 mile race in 3 hours 48 minutes and 1 second. That’s a sub 9 minute (about 8:42 by my estimation) pace. According to Eonline, that made him the top celebrity finisher this year.

Finally, not to be overlooked, he also realized one other marathon goal…

Note: Palin came in at 3:59:36 when she ran the 2005 Humpy’s Marathon in Anchorage, AK

Standard, right? Celebrity, seemingly insurmountable cause, arduous charitable task such as running. It’s all very nice in a sort of conventional way.

Norton refuses to be conventional…

He’s bringing along these dudes. Genuine Maasai warriors to run the race with him on Sunday - that’s two of them with Norton running last week in Central Park. Those sneakers bare a stark contrast to their usual running footwear…

David Blaine and Alanis Morrisette are also part of the team. I guess that’s cool.

Get more info, and check out the organization’s web-based fundraising effort at their website Maasaimarathon.com

That’s Scott Smith. He looks like your average white nerd, especially posing with Muhammad Ali. He’s also the Lil Wayne of sports memorabilia collecting, because I can’t tell if he’s a genius or certifiably insane.

Found on Ebay: 10,000+ signed Sports Illustrated Magazines. Starting bid: $1,999,999.

According to his website, SIkingcollection.com, In 1973, Smith’s grandmother gave him his first subscription to SI, and he’s saved every week’s issue since. In 1982, he staked out a hotel and Wayne Gretzky to sign several copies of SI. Shortly thereafter, he found himself traveling seven days a week to track down coaches, athletes and swimsuit models to sign copies of the mag. And away we go…

Scott started buying complete runs of the magazine dating back to their first issue in 1954. By his count, he’s gotten 2434 SI covers signed - 94.2% of the history of the magazine. The crew he assembled to make this happen include characters like Ace Marchant, his main magazine supplier of 20 years, who barters magazines for autographs (no money has ever exchanged hands between the two). Or Michelle X, his secret weapon…

Smith brings her along when he’s “crashing a banquet” to procure a Hancock.

Just look at her. Need I say more? When I can’t get Lance Armstrong, she gets 2. When Roger Clemens saw her, he crumbled like a little girl and signed 5 in a row. Patrick Ewing didn’t stand a chance. Michelle’s lined up to do the Heisman, Baseball Assistance Team, Boys Club, College Football HOF, Mets & Yankees Welcome Home Dinners. I’ll be more than happy to lend her out to any collector that ponies up the money! She ain’t cheap and neither is my lender fee! Her services as an aggressive collector are well worth it.

Question is now, does the high roller out there exist who’s willing to help Scott hit paydirt and take this monstrosity off his hands?

Find out more at SIkingcollection.com.

This week in 1994, New York City kind-of- a rap group Fu-Schnickens released their second album Nervous Breakdown. It featured the hit single What's Up Doc? (Can We Rock) w/ a guest appearance from Shaq Fu, himself.

Shaq's adeptness at inventing halfwords - like alidocious - would not be fully appreciated until later in history…

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Starts off with some motivation from that old sage, 24-year old second-year NFL QB Matt  Ryan…35 seconds in Lil Jon switches themes to getting crunk at the club, obviously.

Also, I just thought of three motivational speeches in sports movie that I'd like to go back in time and switch out whoever is delivering it for Snoop Dogg (Varsity Blues, Any Given Sunday, Slapshot).

Lil Jon, Swizz Beatz, Snoop Dogg & Matt Ryan - I Do (Nike Sport Remix)

via @jbdesousa & Nah Right

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H/T to Stacey's Snacks - you rule. Check out her recipe for baked eggs in a bacon basket.

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Karate rules, rhythmic gymnastics is a personal favorite.

In 2012, these will be used on signage, merch, etc. at the games. In the meantime, I think one of these will probably serve well as my new Twitter avatar - it’s either going to be rhythmic gymnastics, badminton, or the dead lift.

(H/T @asilentflute)

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Multiple news sources indicate that there was a mad run on the world record for straight hours spent playing Whiffle ball this past weekend.

On Monday I passed along the report that some nerds at Duquesne law did the bare minimum (25 hours straight) to break the previous 24-hour record held by their would-be state rivals just 90-miles away in Erie, PA.

Why am I belittling this? Well, I've become privy to some new information. Michael Farrell of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida posted this comment on Steady Burn on Monday:

Hate to break the news to you, but we at Embry-Riddle University played Whiffle ball for 43 straight hours this past weekend. We started at 10 pm Friday and played until 5 pm Sunday.

According to MSNBC.com, the group raised $400 for Breast Cancer Awareness. And, as the above photo indicates, at least one team thought children - and their unending energy - could be the X-factor.

Play Hardcore Wiffle Ball For A Cure (MSNBC.com)

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