It’s raining in the Bronx

Rain rain go away, come again another day. Except I wanted the game postponed because Em couldn’t make it, and I couldn’t get anybody else to come. I was praying for a postponed game, instead I got a 3 hr, 32 minute delay. The delay was longer than the game. There were two reasons they waited, one is it was a day game, the other is because of how late in the season it is, fitting in another game would be tough.

~~ Yankees 5, Blue Jays 3 ~~

Instead of sitting with my best friend, I got an empty seat to put my bag in. I spent the delay drinking and looking for an outlet to charge my phone, in my immediate area I found 5. So every time my phone got down to 20% I went and charged it back up to 50%.

During the game I got to deal with idiots, without Em there to sympathize with me. It was not the most fun I’ve ever had at a ball game. I couldn’t even clap because I has bruised my hand on Tuesday.

After a pretty good pitching effort by Pettitte, Kelley let a couple runs score. Boone came in and did his job, got the last out without giving up a run. There were a couple of bad calls, Alex got tagged at first after a bobbled play, but the replay showed he was safe. David Robertson got the save. So in one week I got to see 3 favorite pitchers. Turned out to be a good week after all.

~~ Questo è tutto, dice la principessa ~~ 😛

Game 127
Yankees 68-59 (0.535)

Perfect day for baseball

Tuesday was the perfect day for baseball, sun was shining, temperature was that nice but not to hot and there I was, soaking up the glow from my computer terminal. Until the e-mail popped up, “Nice day for a baseball game, want to go?”

~~ Yankees 8, Blue Jays 4 ~~

We met up in ‘Little Cuba’, I had to walk the last 10 blocks because of mechanical problems on the train, so I got there a little annoyed, a little hot and very thirsty. Ready to see some baseball, G didn’t have tickets, but he had looked online and said there were tons of tickets of available. Apparently there was a rush on tickets at the box office, since the only tickets available were on the main level near the bleachers in the sun.

So we left, we didn’t have to go far to find someone with tickets for sale and G handed over the cash, as we walked back I heard the score. “We have to get in there G! They need you!” In we came in, a little late that’s true, when we got to the bleachers to sit the ball came whistling into monument park. 3-run home run by Cano.

But it was too hot in bleachers so we walked around and ended up behind home plate for the end of the game. Finally I got to see Mariano pitch. Perfect ending to a perfect day for baseball.

~~ Questo è tutto, dice la principessa ~~ 😛

Silent bats

It was not the best time I have ever had at the ball park, however it was better than a day at work.

~~ Rangers 2, Yankees 0 ~~

The day started with Kasey and me fighting over tickets. Both of us wanted D-Rob, she won. At Yankees Stadium it was sunscreen day so we got free packets of sunscreen and a skin check from a dermatologist. All the doctor who checked me said was I had pretty legs. Than after that I didn’t put on the sunscreen and ended up with a sunburn. In my defense, we weren’t sitting in the sun, but there must have been enough of a reflection off the concrete and I got burned.

The Replacement Yankees were playing, besides Phil Hughes pitching, Robbie playing third, Gardner and Ichiro in the outfield, I can’t tell you who was playing.

We saw a stellar pitching performance. Phil only gave up 4 hits and 2 runs. Actually we saw two stellar pitching performances, the better one by Derek Holland. What we didn’t see was any defensive output by the Yankees. It was like they had forgotten how to swing a bat. In fact the Yankees didn’t even drive up his pitch count, which is one of their strengths, drive up pitch counts, get into the bullpen, Holland threw 92 pitches. It was a shut-out, not a no-hitter but just as bad.

~~ Questo è tutto, dice la principessa ~~ 😛

Game 78
Yankees 42-36 (0.538)

King Felix versus David Phelps

A discussion on the last game in Seattle, King Felix and his court, turkey legs, bases loaded jams and strike-outs.

~~ Yankees 2, Mariners 1 ~~

About the turkey legs, first I have to tell you about the court. There is a section in the ball park where all the King Felix fans sit and they have these yellow squares of paper with “K” on them. Whenever Felix pitches a chef comes out to that section with a turkey leg and people take bites out of it. Yes I’m serious.

First inning with the bases loaded, Ichiro strikes out and makes the 3rd out.

My notes: Gardner on fire, 7 game hitting streak, always a threat to run, he steals second.
Hafner walks.
Wells walks. Bases loaded ~ two outs, Ichiro up. King Felix struggling with his control. Felix strikes out Ichiro. Yankees leave bases loaded.

David Phelps picks off Bay at first.

Jayson Nix on first (5 game hitting streak), Nix steals second (Shoppach is worse than Stewart? Who would have thunk it?)
Stewart with a bunt base hit, Jayson Nix on third.
Gardner with a single to center field, Nix scores.
Robinson Cano GIDP.

Sorry I got distracted, it is now 1-1 and the top of the third. Teixeira is up. Now he’s out.

David Phelps has walked three batters so far. That’s a batter per inning.
Double play ends the inning.

NYY 1, SEA 1

4th Inning:
1-2-3 inning for Hernandez and David Phelps

5th Inning
Gardner with a double (8th hit in this series, 8-15), left on base.

Bottom of the 5th:
Broken bat ~ Nix to Teixeira, 1 out
Hard hit to Cano, 2 outs
Strike out. David’s fourth of the game.

Sixth inning:
Vernon Wells reaches on a throwing error by shortstop Brendan Ryan. And he is left there.

Bottom of the sixth:
Boone Logan warming in the pen, Phelps at 93 pitches, Strike-out, 1 out
Lines out to Ichiro, 2 outs
Strike-out. 3 outs. Six strike outs for David Phelps.

Seventh inning:
Felix with 7 strikeouts.

Side-note: O’s 10, TB 7

Boone Logan in for David Phelps
Ichiro drops it, in foul territory. (Love you, Raul ♡ , now be a good boy and swing and miss)
Shoppach grounds into a 5-3 out at first.
Yowzer, 2 strike-outs for Logan.

Charlie Furbush in for Felix Hernandez
Eighth inning:
Cano hit by pitch. Advances to second on a wild pitch.
3rd strikeout for Mark Teixeira. Good job swinging at a ball Mark. 😦
Hafner pops out in foul territory.
Wells in now, come on baby! Just put it in play no out, just put it in play no out, just put it in play no out, just put it in play no out, just put it in play no out, just put it in play no out, just put it in play outs.

David Robertson in for Logan
Ken (or AL) jinxed them. Lead-off double for Mariners.
Sacrifice bunt. Runner on 3rd. 1 out
Strike-out Jason Bay. Hat trick for Bay? Huh? 2 outs.
Swing and a miss, freakin’ LOVE D-Rob. David “H” Robertson. The H is for Houdini or Heart-attack, whichever you prefer.

Ninth inning:
Yoervis Medina in for Seattle.
Ichiro walks. And he takes great care with his bat.
Nix sacrifice bunt, Ichiro to second.
Chris Stewart with a big 2-out hit, throw is not in time, Ichiro scores, Stewart fist pumps when he gets to second. Yankees in the lead.
Oliver Perez in for Seattle, Gardner up at bat. He has had a great afternoon, 3 for 4. Hit a home run Gardy! I guess I have to settle for a base hit. Runners on the corners, Robbie is up. Home run Robbie! And he walks. Mark is up now. Strikes out, golden sombrero for Tex. 3 outs.

Bottom of the ninth:
Mariano Rivera in for the Yankees
Lead off walk
Double play (Mark is soooo good, can you say ‘Gold Glove’?
Walk to Raul (Mo has seen his late game power)
Base hit. Who do these Mariners think they are? Getting hits against Mo.
Pop-out to left field. Yankees win 2-1.

Since the game was tied until the ninth inning, neither starting pitcher gets the win.
Pitching Decisions
Winning Pitcher
David Robertson

Losing Pitcher
Yoervis Medina

Save
Mariano Rivera – 23 SV

~~ Questo è tutto, dice la principessa ~~ 😛

Game 63
Yankees 37-26 (0.587)

Double header

Monday originally was a day off for the Yankees. The weather had other ideas and rained out two games in April, therefore on Monday the Yankees played a double-header to make up the games. It was a single admission double header which means the fans in Cleveland got to see two games for the price of one.

First game

~~ Indians 1, Yankees 0 ~~

Second game

~~ Yankees 7, Indians 0 ~~

It’s not unusual for teams to split a double header. What I’m going to talk about is the pitching. David Phelps came up to the big leagues April 2012 as a reliever, as the season wore on he showed he had durability, lasting 4 or 5 innings in long relief and made a few starts. This year, in April he was also pitching in relief until our pitchers started dropping like flies. Then he was put in the rotation, he had a rocky first start, his start on this Monday was not rocky at all. The only run was a home run and if the Yankees HAD GOTTEN THEIR STUFF TOGETHER and actually scored some runs, he would have gotten the win since the bullpen didn’t give up any runs either. Phelps line: 6.2IP, 4H, 1R, 5BB, 7SO, 4.33ERA

March 20 the Yankees played the Red Sox in Spring Training. I looked at the line-up and said, “Who the hell is Vidal Nuno?” He pitched 5 scoreless innings that game. But I didn’t really expect to see him in the regular season. Absolutely he would not be starting any REAL games. So far he’s pitched 8 scoreless innings in the regular season. Monday he was the starting pitcher in the second game, a game that counts. Now I know who Vidal Nuno is. Nuno’s line: 5.0IP, 3H, 0R, 3BB, 3SO, 0.00ERA.

Adam Warren came into finish the game, his line: 4.0IP, 2H, 0R, 4SO, 1.45ERA. Nuno got his first big league win, and Warren got his first save of the season.

Between the two games the Indians gave Mariano Rivera a framed gold record of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”.

~~ Yankees 4, Mariners 3 ~~

Today’s game I really thought the Mariners were going to win, they were ahead the whole game and Felix was pitching and he usually shuts down the bats. Which he did today until he left the game after 6 innings. CC also left after 6 but the Yankee bullpen is better than the Mariners. Also our pitchers know to NOT stand in front of first base when there is a base runner so your infield can get him out properly. In another example of a groan worthy headline, Robinson Cano tied the game and the MLB headline reads: “After aces exit, Yanks Rob a win.”

In other baseball news: Shane Victorino now knows where the visitors bullpen wall at Fenway is, and Bryce Harper knows where the right-field wall at Dodger stadium is. Guys, the outfield does not go on forever, the wall is hard and you may be super ball players but you are not superheroes.

And one last thing before I go, Yankees still in first place.

~~ Questo è tutto, dice la principessa ~~ 😛

Game 39
Yankees 25-14 (0.641)

Love and Hate

Does anybody else hate their team? On a regular basis?

Yankees are my team, I will root for them forever, but sometimes I just can’t stand them. They make me so mad!

Take this last series with the Astros. I was getting ready to trash talk with my friends who are Red Sox fans about how the Red Sox swept a minor league team, when that minor league team beat the Yankees by 8 runs. Seriously Yankees? You swept the Jays, 4 games you ran right over them, then you roll over for the the Astros? It’s like I don’t even know you. They did win the series, and they are in second place behind the Sox, who have had no such problem as losing to the Astros.

~~ Yankees 2, Astros 1 ~~

~~ Questo è tutto, dice la principessa ~~ 😛

Game 27
Yankees 17-10 (0.630)

6 hrs, 32 minutes, 597 pitches

After 19 innings the A’s won the game with a walk off home run. Everyone was excited and happy. Brandon Moss, who hit the home run got two pies in the face, one was self inflicted, and a Gatorade shower. If you wondering why I am writing about Oakland and not the Yankees this was the day that the Astros shut out the Yankees, oh wait they didn’t shut them out they Yankees scored 1 run to the Stros 9.

When I was watching this video, which is not embedded, this a link that will take you to the MLB website, I had two thoughts and I thought I would share them, since my thoughts about the other baseball game are not printable. The first one was, I felt the shot of the Angels pitcher walking off the mound needed a ‘sad trombone‘ and the second thought was, Brandon Moss is kind of short.

Then I watched the video again and realized he is not really that short, I was just looking at him being hugged by a much taller person.

Today was a fun day in the city

Kasey finally made it to the city and we had a blast, eating chicken with hot garlic sauce, going to get tea in SoHo and what else? Oh, baseball.

~~ Yankees 3, Blue Jays 2 ~~

Kasey checked first and said that we needed to find a bar to watch the game, cause the Yankees were behind. So we started walking and looking, actually she did all the looking since I didn’t have my glasses on. By the time we found someplace it was 8th inning and the Yankees were ahead. We got to watch Mo pitch.

Kasey said that Sarah has decided to ‘like’ Overbay until Curtis gets back. She was concerned that it might not be all right to continue to like him after Curtis returns, Kasey said, “It’s fine, you can have more than one ballplayer.” I’ve kind of lost track of how many baseball players are on my ‘like’ list. In other news around baseball, the Tigers swept the Braves, 10-0, 7-4 and 8-3. It’s kind of sweet. And in a bizarre turn of events in Chicago, On his off day, Rays RHP Jeremy Hellickson was ejected after the seventh inning after he yelled at home plate umpire Tom Hallion from the dugout.

~~ Questo è tutto, dice la principessa ~~ 😛

Game 24
Yankees 15-9 (0.624)

Good day for baseball, bad day for me.

That’s not entirely accurate. It wasn’t really a bad day, I got my work done, I got to go to the ball game, the Yankees won, I was just upset because my friend couldn’t make it to the city to visit.

~~ Yankees 5, Blue Jays 4 ~~

A friend of mine had tickets to this game so I was able to go. We arranged to meet at “Little Cuba” before the game to have a couple beers. Cheaper than inside the stadium and we don’t have to drink them in plastic cups. His train was late so I was kind of wandering around before looking at stuff. I decided to add to my Yankee stash with some ‘bling’. Rose refers to this as my ‘Purple Pinstripe Power’. There is not much else to do on the street across from the stadium, so after buying that I walked on to wait for my friend. After he got there and we had a few beers we started back to the stadium. He went in a store, he wanted to get something Yankee for his grandson. They had some really cute t-shirts that said, “Daddy’s little home run hitter.” The only problem is, the baby’s mom is the Yankee fan. He decided on a little hat and then we went in the stadium. Before heading up to my seat I walked around to a few stands looking for an opening day pin. I had bought one before at the stadium, but this time I wasn’t able to find one.

It was a pretty nice day to be at the ball park. Not too cold, but I probably should have worn pants instead of a skirt, I wasn’t really cold, just a little uncomfortable. We had to put up with Jays fans. I always seem to be around the other teams fans when I go to games. The only time they really annoyed me was when I went to get something to eat, they were standing in front of me and just milling around and getting in the way. I realize that they had to come to the concession stand to get beer (there is a two drink minimum when buying beer) but the way the men were standing, in front of the register, between lines, drinking the beer that had already been poured and laughing and talking was unnecessary.

What else happened? When Travis came up to bat in the fourth with two men on I said, “Hafner home run.” After he hit the home run I turned to Gary and said, “I just realized I have a Haffner jerser (#33).” After the 7th inning, which is when the Yankees took back the lead, the Jays fans sitting in front of us turned their hats into rally caps, like this and another man turned his cap inside out. I yelled down, “Your rally caps won’t help them!” CC pitched a 1,2,3 inning and Joba came in to pitch the 9th, with two men on base Melky came up, Gary said, “The Melk-man!” and I replied, “No deliveries from the Melk-man tonight.” He grounded out. This is another reason I go to games, the Yankees need me to win. What would they do without me to tell them to hit home-runs and get batters to ground out? Think about it.

~~ Questo è tutto, dice la principessa ~~ 😛

Breaking the streak

Yankees have lost two in a row, the last game to the Blue Jays, Nova was pitching and the score was 4-8. Then the first game with the Rays, Sabathia was on the mound and the score was 1-5. Phil Hughes gets the ball tonight.

~~ Yankees 4, Rays 3 ~~

Hughes did not give up any home runs tonight. That does not mean I have changed his nick name. He is still a fly ball pitcher, but he managed to keep the balls in the park this time. In fact the only home run in this game was hit off of Mariano Rivera.

Tampa scored first in the first inning, then in the fourth the Yankees tied the game. After a rather rough first inning Phil settled down, he even had a 4 pitch inning. That was pretty sweet. In the third inning, Jennings got caught stealing twice. Robot Umps anyone? The Rays scored again in the 7th making the score 2-1. Which was upsetting, then the Yankees tied it again in the 8th, in the ninth with the bases loaded Ichiro brought in 2 runs. Which was a good thing because that jerk Longorio hit a home run off Mariano. But that was all they got, Yankees win.

~~ Questo è tutto, dice la principessa ~~ 😛

Game 19
Yankees 11-8 (0.579)

My favorite game
Played by my favorite boys
Win or lose my team