Afternoon Baseball

...was his dominant self tonight, but remains impossible to track, much like his 40-plus HOF counterpart Greg Maddux. Johnson has lost an incredible amount of velocity this year, though. It's astounding. A couple Saturdays ago, when he got clocked by the Blue Jays, he was throwing 80 mph sliders with 87 mph "fastballs." It was like watching a Tom Glavine who had no idea how to pitch. Tonight, 85 mph and 92 mph. Lots of pitchers do well with that, but that type of drop-off would affect anyone, much less someone considered stubborn in his approach.
Derek Jeter, of course, continues his marvelous season with three hits, including a homer and a bunt. He was also goofing with Sheff on the bench after the home run -- whose absence, perhaps for the whole season now, triggered the A-Rod collapse.
Jim Kaat was pretty solid tonight with Michael Kay, although only with Kay, he falls into the trap of having to make widereaching points about the essence of the game with every comment, instead of just being himself. I still love him, though, because he's a soothing voice and appears to love just being able to be there.
Plus, he had a really good story in the bottom of the 6th about Marvin Miller, Happy Chandler, and acknowledging those who got players to the big contracts they have. Super pro-players union, yes, but Kaat handled it well. Not calling them ungrateful or even blaming young ones for not knowing who, say, Marvin Miller was (unlike Kay, who called it "amazing" that they'd be ignorant), but saying older players should pass on the info.

Alex Rodriguez, for all his struggles, keeps getting eviscerated in the NY tabloids. I don't think the injury bit helped, although I don't see why there needs to be any giant reaction to it. Regardless, it's going to be a tough road for him for as long as we can see. Bronx Pride has a fantastic roundup with much more, including a stellar picture of Jeter jawing with an ump. There's also a link to a condemnation of John Sterling, with which all parties should be able to agree. He's terrible by any standard, quite frankly. It almost explains why Michael Kay has a huge ego after working with that man for so many years.