New York

The Monday Night Baseball game on May 12 (in which the Atlanta Braves beat the New York Mets) reminded me of a couple things.

Derek Lowe can pitch like an ace when needed, even if he doesn’t strike people out; he can get so many grounders it is ridiculous.

Jerry Manuel is a terrible manager. Pedro Feliciano is a lefty specialist, and Matt Diaz is a platoon player who destroys lefties. The bullpen gets the blame, but this one was on Manuel.

Well, after the embarrassing sweep at the hands of the Red Sox two weekends ago up at Fenway Park, the Sawx travel down to the Bronx for their first games in the New Yankee Stadium.

In honor of this occasion tonight, I have come up with another edition of the Smoking With Hank Top Five, where we take a look at the top five moments between the Yankees and the Red Sox to take place at the Old Yankee Stadium. Enjoy!

"Oh [expletive]."

That's what I'd be thinking if I were a sports agent right now—more specifically, an agent representing one of Major League Baseball's forthcoming crop of free agents.

The problem might be just the same in the other major American sports, but it's baseball season, so I'm talking small ball.

The New York Yankees must join the rest of the sporting world and sell naming rights to their new stadium. If they can't do it today, because of the economy, they must take care of it as soon as they can. 

The Dallas Cowboys, the world's wealthiest sports franchise, is currently negotiating a naming rights deal, the Washington Redskins play in a stadium named "Fed Ex" and the storied Manchester United Soccer team plays in Old Tafford—not "Manchester United Stadium."

Time has a way of stripping us of everything we love. It lures away our youth, diminishes our health, and steals our innocence. Sometimes, the latter of these is the hardest to take.

As Kevin Costner’s character Billy Chapel, of the Detroit Tigers, walked to the mound at Yankee Stadium during the ninth inning of the 1999 classic “For Love of the Gamem,” he stared at his baseball as if to ask for help.

Being 40 years of age and having played over 19 seasons, his youth was far from gone, his health was in question, and his innocence compromised.

Recently, Mike Kent put together a nice article on what he believed to be the top 10 fan-favorites in the state of New York.

I was lucky enough to spend the first three years of my life in New York and, while I cannot remember many athletes (or remember anything in general), I thought I should give this list a shot of my own.

I hope you enjoy the following, and don't forget to check out Mike's either for a second opinion!

10. Leon Washington, Running Back for the New York Jets

Alas, baseball is here!

With spring training drawing to a close this week, MLB's regular season is set to kick off. With spring in the air, there's a still a heap of snow in my town. The great American pastime is back!

The New York Yankees have been built around major free agent acquisitions and trades.  (How'd they get Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Hideki Matsui, and on and on?) However, the greatest Yankees in the past few years have been home-grown talents (Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Don Mattingly, Robinson Cano).

As the Red Sox have shown, baseball has become again a game where the young, home-grown players will help the team the best.

So, if baseball's changing, are the world's greatest team prepared for a change?

Probably not.

The resent, okay lets not kid ourselves, and past misfortunes the New York Mets have had really have left Mets fans scratching their heads. “Why our team?” they ask.  How can the Mets keep fielding a solid team yet find ways to miss the playoffs, even if seems like they have locked the division up?

There is only one thing on the minds of Yankee's fans these days, and that is bringing home a 27th world championship. With the additions of CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett, the pitching staff is better then ever. Mark Teixeira brings many tools to the Yankees lineup.