Some Monday Links

With the struggles of Javier Vazquez on everybody's mind today, I thought this article from Jeff Roberts of The Record was particularly interesting. It's about the mental side of pitching.

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Beside Javy, everyone is also talking about Joe Girardi's mishandling of the seventh inning yesterday. Marc Carig, Mark Fiensand, George King and Ben Shpigel all have stories on the manager's blunder.

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Nick Johnson has changed his number from 26 to 36, but insists it had nothing to do with the slump he's in... Sure Nick, whatever you say.

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Mark Feinsand spoke to some Yanks about today's trip to the White House and Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

"You never get tired of meeting the President," Jeter said. "Everyone enjoys trips to the White House, because not too many people get the opportunity to do it. If you have that opportunity, it's something people remember."

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"Hopefully we can raise their spirits and bring a smile to their faces," Mariano Rivera said of the wounded soldiers. "That's special."

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Bobby Wilson isn't mad at Mark Teixeira for running over him the other day.

"He was playing baseball," Wilson said. "He was playing hard. I know he got hit a few pitches earlier, but he was playing baseball.

"Now I wish he would've [slid], but there's no hard feeling toward Tex. I know the kind of person he is. I know his intent wasn't to hurt me. People can say what they want, if they think it's clean, or they think it's dirty, it's baseball. Next time it comes around I'm not going to back down. I'm not going to shy away from contact just cause this happened. It's part of the game."

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Larry over on IIATMS wrote this interesting article about the Yankees payroll. He informs us that out of the top 8 revenue-earning teams in baseball, the Yankees spend the smallest percentage of revenues on player payroll at 46.8%. The Tigers spend the highest percentage, at 65.4% and the Red Sox and Phillies are right behind them at 61.1% and 60.9%.

If the Yankees spent revenue on payroll at the same percentage as the Tigers, the Yankees could add another $80 million in player salaries! They could add Ryan Howard, John Lackey, Matt Holliday and Roy Halladay, with money left over.

Think about that the next time someone wants to complain about the Yankees payroll.