Yeah, but he let them up to the lowly D-rays. Listening to Karl Ravitch discuss Elijah Dukes (his father in jail for murder and he not being afraid to "choke someone out") says a lot about the class of the DRays this year (at least ones not named Kazmir, Crawford, Upton, and well I don't know who).

As soon as that bullpen came in, I knew the game was over - and you were down by 2 at that point!!

But it's another baseball season and that a very good thing. Here's to the next 161 games and the rivalry that follows.

Go Boston!!! Someone has to believe.

yeah_him, people can change. And let's not forget that baseball's mostly about talent, not avoiding being a jackass. Otherwise, Kenny Rogers would be out of baseball by now. Yes, Dukes's attitude does seem to imply some problems, but I'm sure it's not like he had a great life growing up and sometimes it takes bing around good people to get you to change. Look at Milton Bradley. People said he had temper problems, he'd never be able to last in the majors because of it. But since he went to Oakland, he's calmed down a lot and now the only reason he's out of the lineup is because of injuries.

Yankees Chick, I agree with you on the A-Rod "error" In fact from my days playing little league baseball and baseball with my friends, I can tell you that conditions like today are not pleasant when there are pop ups in the infield. Pretty much everyone but the infielders get a good sight on it. Posada not even finding it is a good indication of how bad that sky was.

Is there a link to an archive of your radio appearance? I'd love to listen.

I agree with adam b....do you have a link to your past radio appearances....

Us people on the east coast would like to listen...

The issue with Dukes wasn't about upbringing and change as much as the fact that Ravitch would normally sugarcoat and sell the player and even he seemed surprised and trying to put a smiley face on Duke's "situation."

Delmon Young is another case on that team of a person trying to change (after last summer's bat incident).

In this, I would argue that we all make choices for our behavior. Yeah... we can change, but the act of murdering someone isn't just a spontaneous situation that can just be done... it's a slipperly slope to slide down.

Just like giving a person a label that he could "choke someone out" while announcing he's new in the league (as opposed to HR or RBI totals from the minors and glittering reviews from pros).

For all the hope we want for Tampa Bay to turn the page on losing, doing so with a thug just doesn't cut it (the same reason I detested Carl Everett, Will Cordero, and Albert Belle in years past).

Clearly Dukes didn't get a good head start in life. He's from Tampa's Hillsborough High, alma mater of Dwight Gooden, Daryl Strawberry, and Gary Sheffield, all of whom have exhibited some "life adjustment difficulties". PC enough for ya there?

Most of us have been fortunate not to grow up in a life threatening environment, so its not surprising young men would have some issues when coming from such a bleak background - some struggle throughout their lives. Let's hope for the best for Elijah - he's still a young kid with some growing up to do, but hopefully his talent will take him to a better place and he'll grow to be thankful, humble, and giving to others. He can be a more effective role model than many of us could ever hope to be - I'm hoping he has that within him.

I also hope he goes 0-fer-the-season against the Yanks.

I'm also hoping Pavano shows a bit more next time out. Had Phelps been on target with his cutoff throw, he might have gotten through the 5th, maybe seen the 6th, and we'd be calling it a pretty successful outing. But he did seem to lose his command a bit and was up in the zone a lot that last inning. Perhaps the adrenalin blew him up. But I'm hoping he's a little steadier next time out and Joe hangs with him a bit so their mutual confidence builds. He only threw about 75 pitches, so there should be more in the tank. I don't want to see him become this years' Wright. Joe quick hooked JW a time or 3 early last season and it seemed to impact Wright's, but even worse Joe's confidence and it took til late in the season for that to rebuild, unfortunately only to end in tragedy. I shudder to think of it.

While I can't disagree that I hope he turns it around and that I would like to see the best from him since he can be a role model, I don't think he needs a disclaimer (where he's from) as creating his life issues.

One of the few nice things that I as a Red Sox fan that I can say about your Yankees is that Steinbrenner for all of his obsessiveness actually did all that he could to care for Strawberry. It was terrible to see what became of Gooden and him.

Nobody wishes anything horrible on anyone, but having a reputation as someone who would choke a coworker out... that did and does seem very extreme to me.

As for 0-for the rest of the year, that didn't happen as Dukes became the ONLY player to ever hit homeruns in his first 2 games against the Yanks. Meaningless stat, but alas... such is most of baseball.

Enjoy the season.

Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez are picking up where they left off defensively, with 4 errors between them to start off the year. You can conveniently monitor Jeter and A-Rod's impending infield implosion here