Tyler Kepner at the NYT thinks the Yanks will finish at the bottom of the A L East — he predicts Rays, Orioles (wild card), Blue Jays, Red Sox, Yankees.
He also predicts that the Nationals will beat the Tigers in the WS, with Stephen Strasburg and Justin Verlander winning the Cy Young awards.
How many Yankee wins?
Over at ESPNNewYork.com, Andrew Marchand says the Yankees will go 84-78, for a fourth-place finish. He predicts the Blue Jays will win, followed by the Orioles, the Rays, the Yankees, and the Red Sox.
Marchand’s colleague Wallace Matthews is more optimistic, predicting 88-74, for a third-place finish. He predicts the Blue Jays will win, the Rays will get the wild card, and the Yanks and Orioles will fight for the second wild card, with the Yankees getting it. He also puts the Red Sox in the basement.
I like Matthews’ scenario, but I think Marchand is more likely to be right. I am both very excited about tomorrow’s opener and dreading how this season will play out.
From “Joe Girardi faces a major challenge as questions swirl around 2013 Yankees,” Steve Politi, New Jersey Star Ledger:
“Forlorn is a good word to describe the vibe around the Yankees with the season opener looming Monday. Everyone seems to doubt their ability to get out of their own way, much less win the more competitive AL East.
“Gone is the perception that all a Yankees manager has to do is fill out the lineup card and manage the bullpen properly for the team to win 95 games, because the reality is something else entirely.
“Now, and for the foreseeable future, Girardi might have to manage his you-know-what off to keep the Yankees afloat until they get healthy. There will be only two certainties day to day: That Robinson Cano will bat third or fourth and that Mariano Rivera will pitch the ninth in a save situation.
“Otherwise, running this team will be a tricky job. He’ll have to find a productive lineup from an odd collection of newcomers and spare parts. He’ll have to keep his aging starters from burning themselves out too soon. He’ll have to use his bullpen perfectly because, chances are, his offense won’t bail out many mistakes.”
When I went to Drudge this morning, the paid ad at the top urged me to contribute to Sarah Palin’s PAC to help 2014 GOP candidates.
If you check out SarahPAC’s latest FEC filing, you’ll learn that while she raked in $5.1 million in the last election cycle, she gave only $298,500 to candidates she supposedly supported.
My first response to reading this was wondering why she wears such cheap and tacky wigs. With millions flowing in, she can obviously get the quality human hair ones.
Look, if you want to support a candidate whom Palin supports in 2014, donate to that candidate directly (and then please get yourself some help…). Otherwise, you’re just giving money to prop up Palin’s increasingly pathetic attempts at celebrity and relevance.
We worry about these PACs having outsize influence on elections. Really many of them are just slush funds, just another clever scam. They threaten our wallets much more than our democracy.
I didn’t want to read Liz Cheney’s op-ed* in the WSJ, but I forced myself to. Get yourself a piece of chocolate and check out these excerpts:
“President Obama is the most radical man ever to occupy the Oval Office.
“The president has launched a war on Americans’ Second Amendment rights. He has launched a war on religious freedom He has launched a war on fossil fuels.
“The president has so effectively diminished American strength abroad that there is no longer a question of whether this was his intent. He is working to pre-emptively disarm the United States.”
* “Republicans, Get Over the 2012 Loss — and Start Fighting Back”
“How Much Is Your Startup Acquisition Worth in Peeps?”
The Atlantic Wire
Rand Paul is fighting in the Senate to give full constitutional rights to fertilized eggs. Yet at the same time, he’s going to filibuster any gun legislation Harry Reid brings to the Senate floor, legislation that might save the lives of, you know, actual already-born children like those killed in Newtown.
Marco Rubio, fearing that he might be out-maneuvered for 2016, just jumped on the filibuster bandwagon with Paul, along with Ted Cruz and Mike Lee.
Chris Hayes has a new show starting Monday night on MSNBC.
He’s calling it “All In.”
You’ll recall that’s the title of Paula Broadwell’s biography of Gen. Petraeus, which took on an, um, somewhat ironical meaning after their affair was revealed.
That is how Meghan McCain describes her new show on the cable network Pivot (I know, I never heard of it either).
I’m guessing her show will be much closer to the latter than the former.
Just what America needs, a blonde Kardashian.
This really is the most exciting thing since, well, since Bristol Palin was on “Dancing with the Stars.”
“It’s good to live a normal life again.” Mitt Romney
He means normal for him and Princess Ann, people, not normal for the rest of us.
Embattled Farmers 