I knew Swish would come through

Nicky Swisher was the real hero of this game, shaking off the cobwebs and delivering two big hits. He rewarded Giraldi for the complete and utter faith Joe had shown by continuing to start Swish in spite of his bad slump. Well, until Game 2 the other day, that is. But at least Giraldi came to his senses and put him in tonight because it paid off and now he looks like a genius.

People also called Miller Huggins a genius back in my day, but really, did it take a genius to write the names Ruth and Gehrig into a lineup card? I don't think so. Even so, I loved Huggy and cried when the Mighty Mite passed away so young.

Anyway, way to go Yankees! You're well on your way to making me look like a genius for picking you to win this thing in five games.

Seems about right

I prefer minotaurs myself, but if you've got the money, why not?

I'm just an old retired baseball player

I'm just an old retired baseball player. One day, I grabbed a heavy bat by the end of the knob and started swinging for the fences, and as a result, I literally revolutionized baseball. Today's world with all its technologies and complexities sometimes frightens me but always excites me. For example, all these newfangled statistics like OPS and WARP and saves intrigue me, and I want to know more. Lucky for me, this internet thingy seems to have every answer I need at my fingertips.

But there's one thing I just don't understand, and the internets don't seem to be much help. I've asked around to everyone here and nobody really knows what I'm talking about. All they really seem to care about is baseball and dames, just like the old days. But I'm trying to expand my horizons and get into more than just baseball and dames. So I'm trying and I'm trying and I just can't get my head around this one thing:

WTF is up with Joe Lieberman? Is the motherf---er a democrat or a republican?

Life back to normal

All is good in Yankeeland today after Burnett, Rivera, and Tesheria did their things tonight. We may have lost the home field advantage, but it's not like they can pitch Cliff Lee every game or anything. Although when I was a pitcher, I did just that, pitch game after game without a break. And it wasn't just because it was the Dead Ball Era, when the ball was all spongy and the only way to hit a home run was to get a 50 ouncer and swing from your heels.

You know, I've been told by the guys here that I don't check my facts, so hold on a second while I look at the internets to see if that's true or not.

All right, so I never really pitched game after game without a break in the World Series. In 1918, I pitched games 1 and 4 with 3 days of rest in between. I did have a few games with one or two days' rest during the regular season, but I wasn't like Iron Man McGinnity and pitched both halves of the double header.

Anyway, congratulations to the Yankees for winning a must-win game.

People are asking me whether I'm worried about A-Rod and his slump. Yeah, I'm a little concerned, but that guy is as tough as they come. He never lets outside pressure get to him. I'm pretty sure if you look up his stats, you'll see that he hits a ton in clutch situations, always has, especially since he joined the Yankees.

Oops, sorry again. It turns out A-Rod actually hasn't done so well in the playoffs with the Yankees. In fact, from 2005-2007, he went 7 for 44 with 1 RBI in three consecutive division series losses. I guess I should be worried about him.

Well, either way, he's got lots of teammates to pick him up. But not Swisher, who's slumping big time. Jeter had, what, 3 strikeouts tonight, including on a bunt attempt! So that's a little worrisome. So it looks like Tesheria and Matsui are going to have to step up, like the way Gehrig and I did in '27 and '28.

So no, I'm not worried. On to Philly!

My kind of owner

God, what I would've given to have this lady as my boss back in the day.

Just as I thought

Well, congratulations are in order for Cliff Lee and Chase Utterly and the Phillies. Especially Utterly, who joined me as the only lefty batters to homer twice against lefty pitchers. (Pretty esoteric, huh.) And I really thought he was going to get a third on his last AB.

Nothing I saw tonight surprised me. I know I predicted the Yankees would win in 4 straight, but us guys were talking just before the game and I told them I had a feeling the Yanks wouldn't get to Lee tonight. Sheehy can confirm the conversation, if you really want to check. I told him during warmups I thought Cliff Lee looked like Art Neff out there the time Neff shut us out on 6 hits in Game 3 of the '23 series. Of course, my boys went on to win that series against the Giants, and I'm sure Giraldi's boys will do the same.

Next we've got Pedro Martinez, who I think is going to fold like Pete Alexander did against us in 1928. If you remember, Ol' Pete came in and saved the 1926 series for the Cards against us. But two years later, we roughed him up pretty good.

That's what I think is gonna happen to Martinez in Game 2. Go Yankees!

My World Series Thoughts

It won't surprise you to know that I'm picking the Yankees to win this Series. Their offense is spectacular... not quite on par with my Murderers Row team of 1927*, but then nobody is. And I think the Yankee starting pitchers are well-prepared to neutralize the Phillies' lefty sluggers like Ryan Howard, Chase Utterly, and Raul Ibanyez.

*More about the '27 team at a later date. Hint: We had a reunion the other day and I've been thinking about writing it up.

The wild card, for me, is the performance of Pedro Martinez in Game 2. If he can reach deep and pitch the way he did against the Dodgers, then the Phillies have a chance. But I think he's going to revert back to the old Pedro that he was when he called the Yankees his daddy and threatened wake up ol' Babe and drill me in the ass. That gave me a laugh.

Tonight's matchup between Lee and Sabarthia could turn on a single pitch, and I like my righty/switch hitters Jeter, A-Rod, Tesheria, and Swisher against Lee as opposed to Phillies' lefties.

Game 2 is up in the air, as I mentioned earlier. And you just don't know what you're gonna get from A.J. Burnett. But I think the Yankees offense will win that one too.

For Game 3, the Phillies have Cole Hamels, who has been shaky. I think New York will get to him early and often, and Andy Pettitte has been here before and knows what it takes to win.

For Game 4, Sabarthia on three days rest concerns me, but he's a horse. If he can just give us 5 or 6 innings, the game will be decided by the bullpen, in which case we win that one too. (The Phillies never really had their bullpen tested against the Dodgers because L.A.'s pen couldn't get the ball over the plate.)

So ultimately I'm picking the Yanks in four straight. Just like we did against the '27 Pirates.

Just heard Styx for the first time

I think it was called "Mr. Roboto," and I swear, if that's the state of rock n' roll in 2009, then you all have bigger problems than I ever imagined. What a piece of crap song.

Cobb, of course, loves it.

Update: My bad. Cobb just told me that the song is from like 1983, and it doesn't reflect at all the music scene today. And Cobb does not, in fact, love the song. He just had it on his iPod and it came on in a Genius playlist or something. I say, why even have that piece of crap on your iPod?

I was big boned

So there I was, reading a perfectly nice article about the fitness routine of my favorite player, Ryan Howard. And then bam: an insult!

The rare fat guy stays in baseball uniforms well into his 30s. Most are pitchers. Babe Ruth was an exception. And perhaps Howard could be, too, though he’d rather not risk it, especially in an environment where getting any sort of long-term deal in your 30s necessitates an act of God.

Why'd they have to bring me into this story and call me fat and all? Don't they know my grandkids read this Internet thingy and might take offense?

Besides, I was not fat. I just loved life.

Welcome back, Mac

It looks like Mark Maguire is going to return to baseball as a hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals. Guys here have been asking for my thoughts on the matter, because of all the crap about steroids and crap. So here goes:

- Hitting coach? Has there ever been a more one-dimensional hitter than Mcguire? Here's the kind of advice I can see him giving:

"Here's what you need to do. Get the biggest, heaviest bat you can find. Hold it on the very end of the knob. Wait for your pitch, then swing from your heels and mash it, bro."

"But that bat is too heavy."

"You need to work out, bro."

Of course, I didn't need a hitting coach. In fact, none of us had hitting coaches when I played. If you were in a slump, the manager took you into his office and said, "Have you been drinking?" And if we said no, he would say, "Then start drinking." And if we said yes, he would say, "Then drink more." I don't know about the yannigans, but for me it always worked.

- Big Mac doesn't need to come clean. It's much better for him to ignore the whole issue of steroids than to address it head on. Sure, he transformed himself from an oft-injured behemoth into the most feared slugger since me in just a matter of months and never fully admitted what kind of pharmaceuticals he used. Sure, he retired from the game before the steroid issue could taint him. Sure, he embarrassed himself in front of Congress. Sure, steroids became a huge, monster issue in the years since his retirement. And sure, he became a recluse and hasn't given an interview in years.

All of that is true. But now that he's returning to the limelight, does MacGwire owe the public any explanations at all? Hell no!

And I will stake my reputation as the ghost of the greatest baseball player who ever lived that not a single reporter, columnist, blogger, blow-dried talking head, or fan will ask any disrespectful questions. You and they are just going to leave him all alone to work with his players in quiet peace.

After all, McGwire saved baseball. You owe him.

That Vaccaro article got me flustered

So flustered that I couldn't enjoy my boys' pennant victory as much as I should have. But it was quite a victory. Congratulations to Giraldi and Derek and A-Rod and all the rest of you. Now go beat the Phillies and make it count!

Mike Vaccaro, you are on notice

Dear Mike,

You've totally misconstrued my daring steal attempt that ended the 1926 World Series.

I've explained and re-explained this over and over. But I wasn't trying to steal. It was a busted hit and run, and the batter, Bill Meusel, forgot to swing. But even if I was trying a straight steal, which I wasn't and don't try to argue that I was, it was still a good play because Meusel was only 1 for 4 during the game and was not going to get an extra base hit against Pete Alexander during that at bat.

So getting myself into scoring position was, I felt, very important. But it wasn't a steal attempt. It was just me being aggressive on the bases. And either way, I did steal 11 bases that year. I was FAST, especially for a big strong powerful guy. In my heart, I don't think I got caught stealing all year until that time against the Cardinals. And I thought I got a really good jump. I was really watching Alexander closely, timing his motion, and he got totally lucky break because I stumbled a little bit. But it wasn't a steal attempt.

I don't blame Meusel for not swinging, the ball was a foot outside. That's just baseball.

But don't try to blame me for that loss. I hit a home run earlier in that game. Just because I got caught on the bases trying to be aggressive, it wasn't my fault. I was the reason we were in that series to begin with! It looks bad now but at the time nobody blamed me. I sure didn't blame myself.

So let's not turn blown hit and run into something that it wasn't, OK, Mike?

Sincerely,
The Ghost of Babe Ruth

Bench Swisher?

So it seems that Joe Girardi is thinking of benching Swisher for Game 6 because of Swish's bad slump.

Hang in there, Swish. I went 2 for 17 in the 1922 World Series against the Giants, but nobody ever accused me of choking and Huggins never considered benching me. The next year, we were back in the Series against the same Giants and I went 7 for 19 with 3 HR, 5 extra base hits, and 8 runs.

Everybody needs to just back off, cut Swish and the boys a little slack, and everything will be just fine.

Correction

In my last post, I said that nobody has ever come into Yankee Stadium in the postseason and won two straight game. I've been informed that it actually has happened twice before:

- 1926: The Cardinals beat us 10-2 and 3-2 in Games 6 and 7. I homered in Game 7 and did all I could to help my boys win, including get thrown out at 2nd base on a stolen base attempt to end the game and the series.

- 2004: I had forgotten all about this, but Williams told me that the Sox beat us in four straight, including the last two at home, to win the pennant. I had to check the interweb before I believed him.

I still stand by my original prediction that the Angels won't do it.

I'm not worried

Last night's win by the Angels only delays the inevitable. I was watching the game with McGraw, and the little Irishman made a good point: As long as Scioscia is trying to win it for the Yankees by doing crazy stuff like walking Alex Ramirez with the bases empty and a one-run lead in the ninth, the Yankees have a distinct edge. If you can't trust your best closer to get an out with the game on the line, then what business do you have in the playoffs, let alone the World Series?

Meanwhile, Mario Rivera is still a stud. He walks out there with the flames raging and he calmly snuffs them out. He's worth every penny they've ever paid him.

The main reason I'm not worried about my Yankees is that the Angels now have to come into Yankee Stadium and win two straight games in a row. Nobody has EVER done that before and it's not going to start now.

Cobb just found out about the blog

And he's pissed. I tried to keep it from him as long as a I could, but Lazzeri accidentally spilled it during a game of checkers.

So now Cobb has disinvited me from his Windows 7 house party.

Do I even need to say it?

Have a nice winter, Torre

When you can't get a good pitch over the plate, you're gonna give up a bunch of bombs. It's as simple as that. That's what happened to the Pirates in 1927. They got behind in the count to me and Lou and we made 'em pay. And that's what happened to the Dodgers last night. Have a good winter, Torre and Mattingly. Next time, stick with the pinstripes.

It's too bad, though, because I would have enjoyed watching my boys destroy you. Especially that Manny Rodriguez.

Although Combs was telling me the other day that he thought he saw a lot of me in Manny. "You guys have the same 'I don't give a crap, just pitch it to me' attitude," he was saying.

And I'm like, "Hey Carl, that's crap. I cared about winning. I cared about playing well. I cared about my teammates."

And he says, "My name is Earl."

And I said, "I've watched that show and it's pretty funny." I was just messing with him, but he didn't like it.

"Screw you, Ruth!" And he stormed off.

That kind of crap happens about twice a month with me and him.

Anyway, go Yankees.

Cobb is excited about Windows 7

It comes out tomorrow and he's got it on preorder from Amazon. He was talking it up to Sheehy and me, and we were just, "Uh huh, uh huh, right, sounds great Ty. Be sure to put the Geek Squad on speed dial." We don't expect to see him for about a week.

Dodgers will fold, making it slightly more difficult for the Yankees

Since it looks like the Dodgers will fold up and go home after today, I wanted to be sure all you Dodger fans out there knew that you never really had a chance anyway. And the two reasons are sitting there in the Dodger dugout: Torre and Mattingly. Ex-Yankees. And in the case of Mattingly, a 100% true blue Yankee.

If a miracle were to occur and the Dodgers actually played the Yankees in the World Series, it would be a bloodbath, because Torre and Mattingly would never actually try to beat their old masters. They'd probably bring Fernando Valenzuela and Tom Niedenfuer out of retirement with some BS about needing veteran leadership. They'd get shelled, and that would be that.

Reminds me of the time Marse Joe managed the Red Sox in the late 1940s. You know how well that went. McCarthy just couldn't bring himself to out-do the Yankees. That's why he started Galehouse in the playoff against Cleveland in 1948 and Kinder against New York in 1949. He'd been programmed NOT to win. He was the original Manchurian candidate.

Torre and Mattingly appear to be continuing in that fine tradition.

Message from Lou

Lou wanted me to remind everyone that his record was set in the World Series, not some namby pamby playoff games.

Not that I have anything against Ryan Howard. He reminds me of me. Except I could hit for average, play outfield, steal bases now and again, and pitch like a beast. So maybe Howard reminds me of Jimmie Foxx. But he could hit for average, too. Maybe more like that lug who played for the Indians, can't remember his name. Leon Trosky or something.

Annals of deep thinking

Still in shock over the Yankees' loss yesterday. But I wanted to highlight something Lou pointed out: Joe Morgan's brilliant analysis following the Angels' game-winning hit on ESPN Radio:

That's what post-season baseball is all about!

Really, Joe? After all these years as ESPN's #1 baseball analyst, the best you can do after an exciting finish to an exciting game is a meaningless old cliche? Sheesh, thank god for Jon Miller.

Right on schedule

It was pretty obvious to all of us (even Campanella) that the Dodgers were going to fold, but I didn't see it happening to Broxton.

But watching the Yankees blow this one today made me sick to my stomach. Cobb wouldn't shut up about it, so I told him to count from zero to the number of championships he won as a player, and that shut him up.

Yeah, I'm new to this

Yeah, us ballplayers still like to hang out together out here. But we don't talk about baseball much. Mostly we talk about Megan Fox. But yesterday I was talking to Cobb and he tells me he's going to start blogging.

He's so proud of himself, too. Cobb thinks he's such a pioneer. He invested in Coke in like 1908 and got rich and now he thinks he's smarter than the rest of us. I got news for you Cobb, if you really wanted to pioneer this, you shoulda been blogging in 2001. I told him that.

But he's all, "No, as usual, Ruth, you don't understand. It's not a blog, it's a platform. It's an interactive medium for community and collaboration. And for sharing my unique insights with the world."

"Sounds like a blog," I told him.

"It's a platform," the sonofabitch said. "For what I'm paying that nerd out in Portland to build it for me, it better not effing be just an effing blog."*

*Hey look, some of you expect me to swear, because that's the way I really talk. But I'm just not gonna do it. My grandkids might read this, and damned if I'm gonna let Cobb and those bastards ruin it. Another thing I'm not gonna do, I'm not gonna use the word "freaking" or "frigging" instead of the real thing. I'll say effing or emming-effing or whatever so you know what I mean but I'm not going to use some g-d euphemism.

Anyway, there's no effing way I'm going to let Cobb beat me to this. So while he's working with his Portland nerd, I've got this thing up and running. Cobb is gonna be pissed, but to paraphrase Robert Loggia, none of us could stand that son of a bitch when he was alive, so he can stick it.

So if you have any questions for ol' Babe, just let me know: ghostofbaberuth@gmail.com. I'm going to be commenting on all the crap that interests me, mostly baseball. Hopefully you'll find it interesting. If not, what the f do I care. I'm Babe effing Ruth.