The Sports Monitor

The New York Yankees didn't win enough last season. Apparently, the Yankees didn't make enough money, either. The team announced it will raise ticket prices on some of its top seats. To determine the amount, the team studied the resale prices on StubHub.com. My guess is the team needs more money to sign Cliff Lee. If the Pirates used this approach, my guess is they'd lower prices each season. Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/green_rick .

The Boss is dead, and by Boss, I don't mean Bruce Springsteen. Many people are lavishing praises of George Steinbrenner after his death Tuesday. The ones that aren't are holding him up as Exhibit A of what's wrong with baseball. Jay Mariotti over at FanHouse calls the Boss the "best of owners." Over at the New York Post, a column there isn't very friendly . I disliked what Steinbrenner did to baseball. He bought the best players at the highest prices. If it was a failed free-agent acquisition, well, there was enough Yankee money to go around to cover the mistake. Just replace the underachieving player with another -- either by another free-agent move or a trade with a bottom-feeder like the Pirates. He took advantage of the system. It doesn't take a smart person to buy the best players. It takes deep pockets. For that, Steinbrenner should be lauded, not his greatness as an owner. He wasn't great in the sense that he knew about baseball or ma...

Major League Baseball returned Sunday night. Of course, they couldn't resist by stuffing the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox down our throat. If you made it through the game, you were treated to a 7-5 Red Sox victory. However, I wonder just how many people survived the game. The opener lasted nearly four hours for a nine-inning game. Four hours. The game ended at 11:56 p.m. Couldn't baseball start the game at 7 p.m.? Do they even care? At least the Yankees lost and we can say they're in last place.

It's always satisfying to see the New York Yankees lose a baseball game. It got better when they opened the $1.5 billion Yankee Stadium on Thursday and lost to the Indians. The best part, however, was the 22-4 bludgeoning of the Yankees by the Cleveland Indians on Saturday. The highlight was a 14-run second inning that lasted 37 minutes. The Tribe sent 17 batters to the plate that inning. How has it been going for the Yankees so far? Check out this comment from the New York Daily News after that thrashing: "We thought Obama banned torture in the United States, but it doesn't count for Yankees fans," said Larry Fannin, 51 of Yorktown Heights, N.Y., who paid $100 for his ticket. "The people around us were screaming we want a refund." Fannin was lucky. The top ticket at the new Yankee Stadium costs $2,625. I wonder what that person was saying after the game? The park is a celebration of greed and excess. The only thought put into the stadium was to extract mor...

There were plenty of memorable moments Monday. New Marlins leadoff hitter Emilio Bonifacio had three stolen bases and an inside-the-park home run. Tony Clark and Felipe Lopez each hit two home runs for the Diamondbacks. My Mighty Pirates rallied in the ninth inning to beat the Cardinals. And, yes, you can call them the first-place Pirates today! What I really enjoyed was seeing the high-payroll Yankees stink up the joint in Baltimore. CC Sabathia, the Yankees' $161 million investment, gave up six runs on eight hits and couldn't get out of the fifth inning. On top of that, he walked five, threw two wild pitches and didn't strike out a batter. "I was terrible. I battled from the first inning on," said Sabathia. The other megabucks star, Mark Teixeira, went 0-for-4 and was booed loudly by Orioles fans who were upset that he turned down the team's free-agent offer in the offseason. All of that added up to a 10-5 loss by the Yankees. It's only one game and the ...

Joe Carter wants some attention. Specifically, he wants his World Series-clinching home run in Game 6 of the 1993 Series to get more attention. The Associated Press quoted him the other day: "Mine, it will make the top 10 but it's never No. 1, it's never been No. 2, it's always been in the middle of the pack. Had it been for the Yankees or the Dodgers, then I think it would have been No. 1. But because it was in Toronto, it has not gotten the respect that I think it really should deserve." Really? Carter think his home run should be No. 1 or No. 2? In my book, the top spot is reserved exclusively for Bill Mazeroski and his Game 7 winning home run against the Evil Empire, the New York Yankees. That shot broke a 9-9 tie in the bottom of the ninth inning. It doesn't get more dramatic than that. Carter's shot happened in Game 6 against a washed-up reliever, Mitch Williams. Bobby Thomspon gets second billing in my book, although I won't argue if you want to...