Via Bob Raissman -

Is the curtain falling on Ma and Pa Pinstripe? Will next season be John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman’s last in the Yankees radio booth?

Right now their future is up in the air. The Yankees contract with WCBS-AM, worth about $12 million per year, expires at the end of the 2011 season, so do Sterling and Waldman’s pacts. Sterling has been the radio voice of the Yankees since 1989. Waldman joined him in 2005.

There has yet to be any serious negotiations between the Yankees and WCBS. The job status of Ma and Pa cannot be resolved until a new radio-rights deal is cut. Industry moles say other outlets have chatted informally with Bombers brass. These potential suitors are looking to get a sense of which direction the club wants to go with its radio rights.

Outside of WCBS, which probably wants to keep the Yankees, it’s highly likely ESPN will – if it hasn’t already – stick its beak into the mix. For ESPN-1050, the process of trying to chip away at WFAN, longtime Mets rights holder, has not been easy.

Adding Yankees radiocasts to the mix of Jets, Knicks and Rangers would help change the equation – drastically. But how much would ESPN be willing to pay for the radio rights to Yankees baseball? And would pinstripe honchos be satisfied having their games go out over ESPN-1050′s weak signal? That situation could be corrected if ESPN ever purchases another station with stronger reach.

There also has been talk about the Yankees buying a radio station.

I really don’t see the Yankees getting rid of Sterling and Waldman. Heck, they’re still doing the YMCA when they drag the infield, right? The Yankees hardly get rid of something when it’s time for it to go. Whatever they do, in terms of picking a station and choosing broadcasters, I just hope they do the right thing. There are many, many, people out there in Yankeeland who use the radio broadcasts as their main way to follow the team. And, it would be a crime against that part of their fan base if the Yankees screw this up…somehow.

Via the Post with a h/t to BBTF –

Yankee announcer Michael Kay is a real meathead.

And now that local TV anchor Jodi Applegate is about to marry him, she’s desperately trying to figure out how to please a man wedded to only three foods: steak, bacon, and chicken parmesan.

That’s all her fiancé ever wants to eat.

“He will eat a salad, but only if it’s iceberg lettuce, and nothing else, no dressing. So it’s basically frozen water served with a fork,” says Applegate, a self-described foodie wannabe.

“Chicken parm is probably the most exotic thing he’ll eat — and he’ll eat mozzarella cheese because it’s in chicken parm,” said Applegate, who anchors the evening news for cable Channel 12 on Long Island.

On their first date, they ordered a caprese salad to share — but Kay took all the mozzarella and left her the tomatoes.

“I was immediately nervous. I thought, ‘OK, is he just a quirky guy, or is he really OCD about what he eats?’ So I threw a tomato on his plate to see if he freaked out. He just laughed, thank goodness,” she recalled.

She also tried to make him classic French beef bourguignon, which she told him was beef stew. That’s when she learned he won’t eat soup.

Kay says he’ll never give up his three favorites — especially the chicken parm.

Can you say “See-ya!” to good cardiovascular health?

There’s no such thing as “Pasta Diving Waldman!”

Via Bob Raissman -

So it has been these tales of the Captain “slowing down” and slumping, accompanied by visions of [Derek] Jeter, 36, walking to shortstop with a cane followed by a ball boy carrying a package of Depends, that is feeding the media. Once again, Jeter, in this alleged “twilight,” is throwing a banquet for notebooks and microphones.

Thursday, on the other end of the telephone, Suzyn Waldman (aka Ma Pinstripe/Georgie Girl) was talking about 2004 when Jeter had an 0-for-32 stretch in April. She remembered how he stood and answered all the questions. This time around it’s more complicated. It’s September. He’s older. And there’s a contract negotiation, likely his last, waiting for him.

“All the people doing the talking are shortsighted, very shortsighted,” Waldman said. “I don’t think any of the talk, any of the stories, affect Derek at all. Everybody is jumping to conclusions because they need something to talk about.”

“You’re watching a career go full circle,” Waldman said. “It’s not over, trust me. Wait and watch how this season plays out. Stop looking at it game to game. Baseball is a game of attrition. Let’s see where Derek’s standing in October. Then shoot your mouth off.”

“The Jeter contract is not a delicate situation at all. I think the Yankees will give Jeter what he wants,” Waldman said. “But nobody knows what he wants. They’re all jumping to ridiculous conclusions.”

Suzyn is starting to remind me of the old aunt in your family who you love because she’s your aunt, but, who you love even more because she’s an older lady who shares your passion for baseball. However, as much as you love her, you cringe every time she starts to talk something baseball-related and is wrong, since you really don’t want to tell her that she’s wrong because she’s your old baseball-loving aunt who you love very much…

From tonight’s post-game coverage on YES:

Kim Jones to Joe Girardi: Joe, hypothetically speaking, could you be without Rodriguez, Swisher and Berkman tomorrow?

Girardi: Hypothetically, yes.

It’s exchanges like this that make me wonder why we have the manager’s post-game press conference after each game…

And, speaking hypothetically, isn’t it time to tell Javy Vazquez that he’s going to sit it out until he’s able to throw a major league fastball and/or pitch more than four innings in a start? Or, is that more rhetorical than hypothetical?

Cliff Corcoran is joining the YES Network.

Cliff always reminded me of Al Leiter. And, now that they’re both at YES, it’s going to even harder for me to tell them apart. Then again, I always mix up Manahawkin and Mantoloking too. So, maybe it’s just me?

Seriously, I’ve met Cliff at least once – maybe twice? – and he seems like a really good guy. And, it’s always nice to see nice things happen for nice people. So, of course, my congrats go out to him on the new gig!

Via NYConvergence:

The YES Network, the the cable channel owned by the New York Yankees, reached an agreement this week to partner with sports fan community website FanTake to add it to YESNetwork.com. FanTake is a network of blog, podcasts, videos which, rather than focusing on a particular sport of region of the U.S., covers all pro and college sports nationally.

The partnership is part of the YES Network desire to reach more Yankee fans who are not baded in the NYC area.

It’s interesting to watch what RSN websites are doing these days. Earlier this year, SNY.tv took over NYYFans.com.

It’s all about the numbers. These sites want to get other sites under their umbrella so that they can roll up the traffic numbers (from these acquired sites) into their own – and then pitch the overall page view counts to their potential advertisers. Also, the more page views, meaning the bigger audience, allows the RSN sites to charge more for their ads.

So, when it says the YES Network’s desire is to “reach more Yankee fans who are not baded in the NYC area,” don’t take that to mean YES is trying to reach out to more fans to help the fans. Anyone from anywhere in the world can access the YES website if they have an internet connection. This is all about adding another site’s traffic to their totals, with the hope that it leads to more advertising revenue, and that’s all.

Michael Kay puts a ring on it for Jodi Applegate.

I wonder if anyone has warned Jodi that she’s going to be using a thesaurus a heckuva lot more often than a Kama Sutra book once she ties the knot with Kay?

But, click here to see who they do love and hate.

Did you catch any of Bob Lorenz’ play-by-play work this weekend on YES?

I thought he did a solid job.

What I liked most about Lorez was his style. He’s got that nice and “every guy” delivery but it’s very professional and polished – somewhat like it was with Frank Messer, back in the day.

And, what I loved about listening to Bob Lorenz do these games was that he made sure the story was “the game” – instead of attempting to make “his announcing of the game” be the story of the game. You know what I mean? (See: Kay, Michael.)

What did you think of Bob Lorenz in the booth this weekend?

The revenge of Pork Chop Pough? No, it’s just some yahoo eating Kim Jones’ cold other white meat…

Via Mark Feinsand –

One of the new features this season on the YES Network’s telecasts has been an in-game report by Kim Jones, whose topics have ranged from the latest struggles of Mark Teixeira to updates on the multitude of injured Yankees players.

Thursday night’s topic was an update on Curtis Granderson, but Jones also showcased some of the unique concessions offered at Target Field. One of those items is a “Pork Chop on a Stick,” which Jones held up for display during her report.

Unbeknown to her, a fan wearing a Yankees jersey and hat snuck up behind her while she was on the air and took a bite out of the pork chop.

“I can’t believe this right now,” Jones said to fellow YES broadcasters Michael Kay and Al Leiter on the air. “I’ve lost control of this. Al, I was going to bring it back to you.”

Kay expressed his disgust at the fan’s action, to which Jones replied, “I can’t tell you how revolting it is.”

Here’s the video:

No truth to the rumor that the fan later came down with a bad case of Nick Swisher’s cooties…

I was driving into work this morning and listening to WFAN. It was some time between eight and nine. Ron Darling was being interviewed. He was talking about all of David Wright’s problems. (And, is it just me, or, are they just killing Wright these days in Metsville? Remember when they were calling him the Mets version of Derek Jeter? Well, that didn’t last too long, did it?) Darling also talked about the importance of the Mets making a good showing against the Yankees.

Darling is a Met. And, as he disclosed on the interview this morning, his father is a big Red Sox fan. That’s a lot to be turned off by…if you’re a Yankees fan.

However, and I’ve said this before, Ron Darling is incredibly good as a baseball analyst. He’s probably the best in New York, in my opinion.

The Yankees/YES have some good announcers. But, they don’t have anyone in the class of Darling.

If I recall correctly, Darling was doing Washington Nationals games before coming to the Mets. Shame the Yankees missed the chance to get him. But, that said, maybe there’s someone else out there doing work for a team who’s great, like Darling, who’s looking to upgrade to the big stage in Yankeeland?

If you could pick one announcer/analyst from another team and get him hired by YES, who would you pick. For me, it’s Ron Darling. How about you?

Pete Dougherty has the story.

So, which YES broadcast team member are you most afraid of seeing in 3D?

I can’t believe it has taken me over 4 months to see this one, but, last night, I caught the Yankeeography on the 2009 season (for the first time). Man, was it good. Very well done. I later found out that it’s available on DVD too – entitled “New York Yankees 2009 – Season of Pride, Traditions & Glory.” It’s just as good as those year-end VHS summaries that MSG used to do.

I just wanted to say that Oriolesville’s gain is Yankeeland’s loss. How’d the New York market ever let her go?

Via Bob Raissman -

Those loving rifts and bad blood should circle June 25 on their calendars. That is the day the Yankees open a three-game set with Joe Torre, and his Los Angeles Dodgers, in Chavez Ravine.

This just in: The brigade of Yankee suits have no use for the man who guided the Bombers to four World Series titles. Brian Cashman, the general manager, won’t be breaking bread with Torre in the near – or any other – future.

In fact, it’s likely a toss-up who Cashman would rather see drift into space first – Torre or MLB Network analyst Tom Verducci (he co-authored “The Yankee Years” with the veteran manager).

It’s interesting how this anti-Torre sentiment manifests itself inside the souls of Torre haters associated with the Yankees. Some of these venom deliveries are darn creative.

Like the riff Michael Kay put down last Tuesday on ESPN-1050. Kay also works for the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network. His relationship with Torre, who once referred to Kay as Rona Barrett, was almost always fractured.

Kay then defended [Joe] Girardi, his partner on “The Joe Girardi Show” (Only on YES), saying he was a better manager than – yeah, you guessed it – Joe Torre.

“Joe Torre never managed at all,” Kay said. “He managed men in the clubhouse, but he did nothing with X’s and O’s during a game.”

Michael Kay has been taking shots at Joe Torre for a while now. Maybe Suzyn Waldman can bring them back together again someday…like she did with Yogi and The Boss? Oh, the CenterStage that will follow that reunion….

Via the B&C Blog -

After hearing John Sterling’s disappointing call of Curtis Granderson’s first home run as a Yankee, got the guys to thinking about some alternative calls that might work, assuming Granderson hits another home run during his time with the Bombers. The guys broke into song with a little help from the great Sammy Davis Jr. and his 1972 hit, ‘The Candy Man’…

And, guess what – last night, on Curtis’ homer against Papelboob, Sterling went into a “The Grandy Man Can….” thing. Just a cowinky-dink, ya ‘think?

[Warning - the bottom half of that post at the B&C Blog is NSFW.]

Via Pete Caldera -

Tino Martinez isn’t just stepping lightly into broadcasting.

“That’s why I’m doing six games of spring training – to make sure I’m presentable and good enough,” Martinez said before heading into the YES Network booth on Thursday night. “I want to work hard at it.”

Four years after he retired as a Yankee, Martinez believes that serving as a TV analyst could be something of a second career. So, just as he approached hitting and playing first base, Martinez plans to be his own worst critic.

“Basically, I don’t want to be annoying to the fans,” Martinez said. “Some guys you listen to, they kind of annoy you a little bit. You want to enjoy the game while you’re watching it.”

On this subject, Martinez is absolutely serious. Mediocrity is not an option.

“If they’re not happy with what I’m doing, and I don’t see my progress, then I won’t do it at all,” Martinez said. “I don’t want to do it if I’m going to be average.”

This isn’t a completely new direction in a somewhat unsettled transition from the field. Martinez, 42, worked on ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight,” and said broadcasting is something “I’ve always thought about.”

Martinez also has thought about a front office career, having served as a special assistant to general manager Brian Cashman.

Martinez isn’t sure how many games he’ll broadcast, though the limited number will allow him to keep alive any front-office aspirations. “As a player, you think you know,” Martinez said of the club’s day-to-day operations. “But you really don’t.”

I think the Yankees/YES lead the league in having announcers who don’t work very often. Do they really need one more? Man, I long for the days of the same two or three guys working the booth everyday…

Looks like the Yankees brass reads Bob Raissman. Via Peter Botte –

There is no team campaign against Alex Rodriguez, the Bombers said Friday. Yankees president Randy Levine insisted through a team spokesman Friday that, “Nobody in this organization is mad at Alex.”

Pinstriped brass otherwise didn’t have a lot to say about a report in Friday’s Daily News. That report quoted a TV industry source as saying team officials were angered that A-Rod hadn’t immediately informed them he’d been contacted by the FBI, which wants to question him in its investigation of Dr. Anthony Galea.

In response to assertions that the organization also backed the YES Network’s decision to highlight Rodriguez’s most recent controversy during Wednesday’s telecast of the spring-training opener, GM Brian Cashman added that he has “never told YES to do or not do anything.”

Below, we have some exclusive WasWatching.com footage of Yankees G.M. Brian Cashman on his way to address the media on this topic while Alex Rodriguez anxiously awaits to hear what Cashman has to say about the team’s position on him given his latest situation:

Via the YES Network site –

Jack Curry, who covered the New York Yankees and Major League Baseball at The New York Times for nearly 20 years as its Yankees beat writer and most recently as its national baseball writer, has joined the YES Network as a Yankees studio analyst, program contributor, and a columnist on the Emmy Award-winning YESNetwork.com.

Curry joined The New York Times in 1987 and became the Yankees’ beat writer in 1991. He was the newspaper’s national baseball writer from 1998 until he departed late last year. While at The Times, Curry authored more than 4,500 articles, covering 18 World Series, 11 All-Star Games, 10 MLB Winter Meetings and 2 World Baseball Classics. The New Jersey native also was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service Reporting at The Times in 1999 for co-writing a series on the demise of New York high school sports, and won multiple Publisher Awards at The Times, monthly awards that recognize the best journalism at the paper. Curry has also been the chairman of the New York chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Watch out Michael Kay.

Seriously, Curry is an excellent hire by the Yankees. And, it’s nice to see a good guy catch a break – especially after a recent bad one. (Nope, I’m not talking about the Times buy-out. In April last year, Curry was in Philadelphia to cover the opening game of the season between the Phillies and Braves. While there, he was hit by a SUV outside of Citizens Bank Ballpark. The impact was enough to lift him off the ground and do some serious damage to his ribs.)

Via Multichannel News –

The New York Yankees won their 27th World Series title in 2009 and YES marked its seventh consecutive year as the most-watched regional sports network in total day, while also donning that crown in primetime.

YES, the TV home of the Bronx Bombers and the National Basketball Association’s New Jersey Nets, notched a 13.9% primetime rise to 82,000 TV households in the New York DMA in 2009 (Dec. 29, 2008 through Dec. 27, 2009), up from 72,000 in 2008, according to Nielsen data.

Gauged across total day (Monday through Sunday from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m.), YES, in running its daypart-winning skein to seven years, scored 10.3% amelioration to 32,000 households last year, from 29,000 in 2008.

In both measures,YES outpaced NESN, the cable TV home of Yankees’ nemesis the Boston Red Sox, as well as the National Hockey League’s Boston Bruins. YES officials, citing Nielsen data, said NESN averaged 76,000 households in primetime and 24,000 in total day during 2009 in the Boston DMA.

YES officials also noted that the RSN experienced year-over-year increases in both primetime and in total day among men 18+, guys 18 to 49 and males 25 to 54.

Within the New York area, YES’s primetime mark was the tops in TV sports, edging ESPN’s 81,000 TV households and the combined 80,000 average of SNY and MSG, according to officials at the RSN. In total day, YES officials said the service outperformed the trio of SNY, MSG and MSG+, which together had 30,000 households.

Not surprisingly, YES’s Yankees telecast led the way. The club’s game averaged a 4.62 household rating, up 9.5% from 2008, to rank as the RSN’s second-best mark with the club, behind a 4.69 average during the 2007 season.

YES’s primetime Yankees telecasts ranked first in the New York DMA on 42 of 45 straight game nights in such demos as men18+, 18-49 and 25-54, as well as adults 18 to 49 and 25 to 54.

The network’s Yankees post-game show ratings jumped 7% year-over-year, while Yankees Batting Practice Today ratings improved by a third.

Elsewhere, the network rang up gains with simulcasts of Mike’d Up: Francesa on the FAN, as well as the radio star’s Football Sunday with Mike Francesa show during the pro football season.

This is pretty amazing news – considering how many laments I have seen in comments left at this blog, through the years, about how other teams have better announcers than the Yankees, and about how the YES Network lacks non-game related original programming, and about how tired fans are seeing the same games played over-and-over again on Yankees Classics in addition to having to watch the same old played-out repeats of Yankeeography and CenterStage.

Then again, on the bright-side, it has been a while since anyone has seen Yogi & a Movie or the White Shadow on YES – and that’s a plus.

What this news does tell me is that, just as you can put a pig in a party dress and it’s still just a pig, on the other end of it, you can hide a huge diamond in a smelly sock and someone will still reach in there to get it…if they know it’s in there.

I guess that’s the beauty of the YES Network – broadcasting Yankees games allows them to do some things poorly, and other things not at all, and they can still do laps around the other RSNs because, no matter what, Yankees fans (and there are a lot of them) want to see their Yankees baseball.

Via Bob Klapisch -

It appears [David] Cone’s short but brilliant run in the YES broadcast booth may be over. Sources say Cone is out after a heated disagreement with network executives.

A spokesman confirmed via e-mail: “David’s contract is up. We’d love to have him back, but he’s in the process of evaluating his various options. … He may not be back based on what he decides.”

Cone’s skill and confidence grew appreciably in the past year. Like former-Met teammate Ron Darling, he had a graceful way of explaining baseball to casual fans, but also was immersed in cutting edge sabermetrics.

Michael Kay said, “I’d come into the booth five hours before a game and Coney would already be there, buried in the computer, looking up stats. He took it very seriously.”

Betcha the MLB Network picks up Cone in a heartbeat. This will be a loss for the YES Network, if you ask me.

This morning, I heard Meco’s Star Wars Theme on “The Strobe” on Sirius XM Radio. Every time I hear that song, I think of the 1978 special “It Don’t Come Easy” – since this music was featured during some of the more exciting highlight footage in that one. (Sort of interesting that Star Wars music was featured – about a quarter-century before the whole “Evil Empire” thing.)

In any event, for sure, it’s a shame that you don’t see “It Don’t Come Easy” broadcast all that much – if ever?

You would think that’s something that the YES Network could (and would want to) work into their scheduling.

Joe DeLessio, at New York Mag, takes a shot at: Deconstructing John Sterling, One Call at a Time.

You know…the older he gets…Sterling’s starting to look a little like Jerry Springer. Just a tad, but, it’s there – at least to me.

I just hope it doesn’t reach the stage where Nick Swisher and A.J. Burnett start liftng up their shirts for “Sterling Beads.”

Via MultiChannel News -

New York Yankees fans who subscribe to Verizon FIOS TV will be able to stream live Yankees games via their computer as part of a deal reached between the YES Network and the telco.

As part of a multiyear agreement between Verizon and the YES Network, Verizon Internet customers who subscribe to FiOS TV and also are receiving the YES Network as part of their TV package will be able to buy access to live, streaming coverage of Yankees games throughout the remainder of the 2009 regular season.

Verizon customers will have to pay a one-time price of $29.95 or a monthly fee of $19.95 from now until the end of the season in October. The package begins with the YES network’s Aug. 14 Yankees-Seattle Mariners game

The deal is the second in-market, broadband distribution agreement for YES, following a similar arrangement with Cablevision Systems Corp. announced in June. Neither YES network or the operator will reveal how many Cablevision subscribers have taken advantage of the broadband offer.

Hey, for another $1,500 on top of the $29.95, you can watch the games on your PC while sitting in a pair of seats from the old Stadium!

Call me up when you can something Yankees-related for free…

There’s been some reader opinions left in comments recently to this blog regarding the Yankees radio broadcast team: Suzyn Waldman and John Sterling.

And, this got me thinking about how I feel about the Waldman and Sterling duo. And, to be candid, overall, I guess I’m not a fan of their work.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m somewhat sure they are both extremely nice people – the kind that you would want to have as your next door neighbor, etc. And, they’re both baseball lifers – having worked in the game for so many years. Lastly, the two of them do seem to care, very much, about the Yankees and their fans. So, those are three big things in the favor.

And, I’ll admit, at times, I do laugh at Sterling’s over the top calls, etc.

However, that all said, there’s just “something” there – regarding their work – that rubs me the wrong way. At first, I thought it was whole “Pinstriped Pollyanna” approach of theirs – where no Yankees player or member of the organization can do wrong. Anyone who knows me knows I think that’s that just living with Yankees blinders on…

More so, for me, I think the issue is that Suzyn Waldman and John Sterling “dumb it down” when they speak to you – assuming that you know less about the game (than them), and, in a sense, they “talk down” to the listener while covering the game. And, while maybe this works for some listeners…say… many of those under the age of ten or over the age of seventy…it really doesn’t work for me.

Further, I would think that most people do not enjoy being “talked down to” by anyone who knows less about a subject than they do…no matter what the subject…but, maybe it’s just me?

After all, many baseball fans today are pretty savvy. And, perhaps it’s time for broadcasters, in general, to stop playing to what they think is the lowest common denominator and start talking to listeners with the assumption that the audience has a clue as to which players are good or bad (overall or in certain situations) and that they understand what’s important or not in baseball games…ya think?

Again, this is no knock, personally, towards Suzyn Waldman and John Sterling. It’s just that I wish their broadcasts came from somewhere other than from an ivory tower – this make sense?

From Bruce Jenkins blog (with a hat tip to BBTF) –

Part of the fun of Manny Ramirez’ return to the Dodgers, scheduled for Friday night, will be the exposure of Charley Steiner as a hypocrite. Michael Kay was the first to go down, and Charley’s next.

At the height of Barry Bonds’ pursuit of the home-run records, Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow made lively, enthusiastic calls on the Giants’ network. They always loved Bonds as a ballplayer. They knew that whatever the extent of his plunge into steroids, it didn’t tarnish his reputation as one of the greatest and most entertaining hitters of all time. Most of the Giants’ fans knew this, as well, and they cheered their hearts out whenever he went deep. Kuiper’s home-run calls, in particular, go down with the most inspiring of modern-day broadcasting.

It seems this didn’t go over too well in other cities. Kay, who anchors the Yankees’ telecasts, ripped Krukow and Kuiper in a public forum for getting so excited over a steroid guy. Steiner, part of the Dodgers’ radio team, made some equally rude comments (off the air), establishing himself as a real high-and-mighty beacon of integrity.

Except it doesn’t work that way. Alex Rodriguez opened the season in disgrace after the steroid-related embarrassment of spring training, but that didn’t stop Kay from going nuts when A-Rod slugged his first home run. Presto — instant hypocrite! Now we get to hear Steiner when Manny rocks Dodger Stadium for the first time. What, he’s going to treat it like a funeral while the place is going crazy?

I’ve known Kay since his days as a Yankee beat writer in New York, and he’s a good guy. So is Steiner, who livened up many an ESPN “SportsCenter” before he joined the Dodgers. Ripping the Giants’ broadcasting team, to say the least, was not their finest hour.

I cannot blame a broadcaster for getting excited about a player on “his team” hitting a homer, etc., even if the player was caught for using PEDs. That’s pretty much their job. That said, Jenkins has a point here – in that said broadcasters should not have thrown stones, if they really did, at another time.

Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see if Kay responds to this claim. Nothing like a little coast-to-coast media tinkling contest to throw another log on the Yankeeland entertainment/circus fire, right?

Via the YES Network Site -

The YES Network, the most-watched regional sports network in the country for the past six years, and Verizon, the only major provider that delivers all-digital TV service over an advanced all-fiber network straight to customers’ homes, have reached a multiyear video-on-demand agreement.

The agreement will provide Verizon’s FiOS TV digital subscribers throughout New York state and in north and central New Jersey access for the first time to telecasts of New York Yankees games and other YES programming on demand. The YES on-demand programming will be available beginning Wednesday (April 8). This makes Verizon the first distributor to offer Yankees games on demand.

In addition to YES’ Yankees telecasts, FiOS TV customers will have access to other YES programming such as the network’s Emmy Award-winning Yankees post-game shows and “Yankees On Deck” series, the Emmy-nominated “CenterStage” interview show, “The Joe Girardi Show” and “Yankees Magazine.”

Sweet…makes those 13 hours now worth it.

Via Bryan Hoch -

Alex Rodriguez believes the other 103 positive tests from Major League Baseball’s 2003 survey program should remain anonymous, the Yankees slugger told the YES Network in an interview to be aired Tuesday.

Speaking with host Michael Kay for a segment taped before the slugger’s March 9 right hip surgery, Rodriguez said that he does not think releasing the identities of that year’s other positive tests for performance-enhancing drugs would help his own situation.

“This is really about my mistake,” Rodriguez told Kay. “You know, many nights I fell asleep thinking about who I can blame, and this guy, or that guy. And when I woke up I kept coming back to the same person; it’s me. I mean, there’s no one to blame. I hope those 103 names never come out.”

In the interview, Rodriguez again apologized for his use of banned substances during his three seasons with the Rangers from 2001-03.

“I’m very sorry,” Rodriguez said. “You know, we’re role models, and I think athletics plays a big part in our culture, especially in the world we’re in today. There’s so much negativity and sadness going on around the world and the U.S. … people look at baseball for a savior or for inspiration, and I know that I’ve let a lot of people down.

“I know there’s kids out there that I’ve never met before, and I probably never will, that I’ve hurt them, and for that, I’m very sorry. I’m not very good with words, but no matter what I sit here and tell you today, it’s not going to express how truly sorry I feel for what I have done.”

Given all the other press that Alex has received in the last two weeks, since A-Rod taped this interview with Kay, would it have killed YES to delete this interview from their Tuesday night special? At this point in time, do we really need to see and/or hear from Rodriguez at all – even if the content is favorable? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a full week in Yankeeland where we didn’t hear something about Alex Rodriguez that was off-the-field related? Really, just seven days in a row…that are “A-Rod Free”…wouldn’t that be sweet?

Bob Lorenz is blogging now. He’s the closest thing we have today to Frank Messer – so, check it out.

By the way, I thought this movie rocked…

It was right up there with this one.

In-game chats with Jim Kaat? Oh, boy, I hope Kitty knows what he’s getting into…

Via the Sports Business Journal -

The YES Network this week plans to relaunch its Web site, with the enhanced online presence influenced significantly by a new three-year agreement with MLB Advanced Media.

While there is no leaguewide agreement yet on live in-market streaming of games — an issue that has been actively debated within baseball for several years — YES’s moves are emblematic of regional sports networks seeking to maximize their online profiles within the current framework.

The new-look yesnetwork.com will feature three video highlights per game, up from two in the prior accord with MLBAM; a new design that resembles MLB.com and the Yankees.com team site; an extensive series of text and video blogs from both network personnel and outside sources such as the River Ave. Blues blog; and greatly expanded social-networking capabilities.

“We want this to be a complement to Yankees.com,” said Michael Spirito, YES vice president of business development and digital media. “We certainly don’t want to duplicate what they’re doing and think we can bring forth a lot more content and value to the fans.”

Despite the anemic advertising market, YES sold several title-sponsor deals for the updated site, including Chevrolet returning for a player-of-the-game segment, and Papa John’s and Avis buying into text-messaging functions supported by YES and MLBAM.

Financial terms of the YES-MLBAM pact were not disclosed, but the deal includes revenue-sharing provisions.

Other new content initiatives for the YES site include a weekly video feature that explores the intersection of sports and entertainment culture, and in-game chats with former YES announcer Jim Kaat.

“The idea is to go way beyond just that [Derek] Jeter went two-for-three last night, and have a full range of experiences,” said Kevin Sullivan, yesnetwork.com managing editor.

YES Network is not alone in retooling its Web site. Other RSNs have been similarly active over the winter, ramping up for the 2009 baseball season.

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