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)

Advertisement

Game 2 in Toronto

In the post game interview Hiroki said, winning the game is more important than if I get the win. Still, I think Dave is off his Christmas Card list.

~~ Yankees 5, Blue Jays 3 ~~

Baseball has such funny rules sometimes. For instance even though Kuroda pitched 7.1 innings, only giving up 1 run he doesn’t get the win, because the pitcher after him let the Blue Jays tie up the game. That pitcher was David Robertson, whose beautiful ERA has now blown up to 3.18, Kuroda’s is still rather low at 2.35.

Shawn Kelley got the win, and I still don’t know how this is figured. Joba, Boone and Shawn each pitched after Dave blew the save, the Yankees scored the winning run in the top of the 11th, Mariano gets the save, so Kelly as the last pitcher to pitch before the closer gets the win. You might think I got it, but the next time this happens, I’ll forget it and start arguing and complaining, the pitcher who pitched the best should get it! The starter kept the other team from scoring for most of the game, he kept the other team down to 1 run, so why doesn’t he get the win? Well at least he got the low ERA.

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

Game 16
Yankees 10-6 (0.625)

Yesterday was when
All of us liked Boston Strong
still can’t root for Sox

Please don’t hit our batters

The Yankees fall to the Tigers but all I can think of is “You hit NUNEZ! You jerk.” Time to make a Doug Fister doll. I’ll then have a set, Doug Fister and Prince Fielder. Vindictive, ME?

~~ Tigers 8, Yankees 3 ~~

Now is not the time to panic, I don’t want to hear people saying how the Yankees have ‘lost it’, it’s the 4th game of the season, lots more baseball to play, small sample sizes work both way. Time to be a true fan and have faith in your team. That is all.

Ivan Nova was not sharp this game, he didn’t even last 5 innings, then Boone Logan comes in and gives up a home run. The first of three, yes I am feverishly making a Prince Fielder doll. I don’t know why I haven’t before this, a mistake on my part. Kevin Youkilis got the only homerun for the Yankees bringing in the only runs the Yankees got. Nunez got plunked and now is day to day. David Robertson was perfect.

I’m not trying to sound like a whiney fan here, but the Yankees played a night game in the Bronx then a day game in Detroit, I’m not going to use it as an excuse because I know the Yankees aren’t, but seriously, who makes up these schedules.

Today Phil comes off the D.L. and makes the start for NY, that means Phelps goes to the pen. I don’t have a problem with that, it means he’s available if Phil implodes and starts giving up home runs.

Game 4
Yankees 1-3 (0.250)

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

Opening Day

Next Monday is Opening Day. I don’t know if I have ever been this excited for a Monday. I will be in the Bronx at the game if I have to beg for food for a month, if I have to sell a kidney, if I have to sell my best friend’s kidney, by now you should get the picture. I have been waiting for this day since the last out of the World Series.

During the off-season, I tried to amuse myself. I started watching football. Most of my life (sports fan life that is) I’ve been a Bills fan. Last year and this year I have been following the Ravens. They have purple uniforms. They made it to the playoffs, but no one expected them to make it to the SuperBowl. I bought a red and black wig to wear to a Super Bowl party and cheer the 49ers on to victory over the Patriots. I guess Tom Brady is not as good a quarterback as he thinks he is because the Ravens beat the Patriots. Which was after they beat Payton Manning which they also weren’t supposed to do. So I ended up wearing purple and black and the red and black wig is still unworn. I will find an occasion to wear it.

Hockey has also become a minor obsession with me. Last year I thought I would follow the Islanders, but interacting with Islander fans proved to be problematic. First were the questions: You don’t live on Long Island, why do you want to be an Islander fan? I could understand that question coming from a Rangers or Devils fan, but this was from Islander fans, like they didn’t want me to become an Islander fan until I moved to the Island. Then I stated on the Islander’s game chat that Kevin Poulin was cute. Hmmmm dead silence (well he IS). Then I made the ultimate mistake, I said that J.T. looked hot in the cool black jerseys, only to be told that the black jerseys are hideous (they’re not, they’re cool and J.T. is hot even if he’s not wearing …. never mind). Thoroughly pissed off I started looking around for another hockey team to follow, it was suggested that since I am from Buffalo, I should follow the Sabres. So I am, and the Sabres suck, they’re as bad as the Islanders and as bad as the Bills are, but they are my team. Even though right now I’d like to shoot all the players off into outer space. Just don’t expect any profound hockey analysis.

But baseball, baseball is back, or will be soon. Jumping up and down and yelling at my TV will commence within days. Before you ask, yes I WILL be rooting for Youkilis, he’s a Yankee, as soon as a player puts on the pinstripes he is one of my boys and I support him. Doesn’t matter what team he comes from or how much I hated him as a Red Sox, I’m rooting for him now.

Right now is spring training which doesn’t count, and boy am I glad it doesn’t count since the Yankees are in last place. Oh and they are dropping like flies, it seems like every day someone is injured. First game of spring training, Curtis Granderson gets hit on the arm and his bone is fractured. Then Teixeira goes out with a sprained wrist. Derek Jeter has swelling in his ankle, Phil Hughes is out with back issues, today Boone Logan got hit with a line drive in his “fat”, translation butt-cheek, and A-Rod is better known these days and A-WHO? As in, when was the last time we saw him, or for that matter anything was written about him? They should change their name from the NY Yankees, to the NY Walking Wounded, but Mo is back and he says they will find a way to get it done. If not, I will be putting these to good use and might actually see the bottom of my Jameson’s bottle.

The longest game

Not the longest game ever, but —->

At 5 hours, 43 minutes, this was the #Yankees‘ longest ballgame since battling the Twins for 5 hours, 45 minutes in 2002.

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) September 23, 2012

The last game I had tickets for was to be played on Tuesday, September 18, however it was rained out. Kasey was coming up to go with me but fortunately the game was called before she left, early the next day she got on the train, we had big plans for the day. Unfortunately I was sick and we ended up watching the game in my apartment.

Part of the reason I was so upset was this was Andy Pettitte’s first day back from the D.L. I really wanted to see him pitch, instead I had to settle for watching him on the little screen. At least the Yankees beat the Blue Jays.

Later in the week Tom sent me a message asking if I wanted to go to the game Saturday, I said that since I had missed the game Wednesday, of course we all know I would have gone regardless. Kasey was in the city and made her request for me to text her game highlights. I took my phone but didn’t bother with my charger since, I was just going to a game, wouldn’t need my charger.

~~ Yankees 10, Athletics 9 ~~

As the saying goes, famous last words. We get to our seats, which actually weren’t our seats. For a Saturday day game the stadium was rather empty. Tom and Mike were in the right section, but not in the right row, well all right, I can be flexible. Tom is busy scouting out new seats for next season’s tickets. He still wants the Audi Club and Mohegan Sun Sports Bar, and I think he is staying in the Grandstand, but he wants seats closer to home plate. We sat in those seats for a while. It didn’t seem like long, but longer then Nova stayed in the game. Stephen Drew hit a home run in the third inning and Nova’s day was done. It didn’t seem too bad, after all the Yankees were still a run ahead, but the A’s were continuing to hit and the Yankees were not, by the 4th inning the game was tied. Then the Yankees broke the tie, then the A’s tied it again. After testing out the seats in section 419, which Tom liked the section but not the row he picked, we went to the Audi club. Because the game had gone on so long they had stopped serving beer in the concession stands, I was still texting Kasey, my text read, “Tied game, again.” Kasey’s reply was, “I hate Oakland!” We get to the 9th inning, still tied. Then the 10th, the 11th, Tom and Mike left for Yonkers. I stayed. I was looking out from the windows across to the bleachers and the right field seats, it looked like a steady exodus of people from the stadium.

Top of the 13th, Freddy was in his 3rd inning and boom, boom, boom, 3 home runs by Oakland scoring 4 runs. Some Oakland fans started cheering, Michael Kay and Tino and Ken started talking about what this loss would mean to the Yankees during the middle of the inning. Then the Yankees came up to bat.

Ichiro starts off with a single, then Alex hits a single, then Robbie takes his turn and also hits a single. A’s bring in a new pitcher, who promptly throws the ball to the wall behind home plate and home comes Ichiro. Nunez brings Alex home with a sacrifice fly, that’s two runs and 1 out. Raul comes up to bat, the same Raul that has been slumping, that some people are saying is too old to play everyday, the same Raul that broke the tie in the 5th with a home run and I thought they were were showing a replay of that home run, I thought they were continuously showing it, but the Audi club was getting loud, and the A’s fans were rather quiet. Home run #17 for Raul Ibanez to tie the game again. Cory Wade comes in and pitched a 1-2-3 top of the 14th.

Chavez get on first and is replaced by Pinch-runner Melky Mesa, he was brought up for his speed so this makes sense. It is his major league debut. Jeter bunts, and then Ichiro is walked. I hit the table and snarled, “Cowards!” The girls next to me just laughed. Oh and by this time my phone was dead as the Red Sox’s chance of going to the post season, so much for not needing my charger. The summary from MLB.com says

Alex Rodriguez singles on a line drive to center fielder Yoenis Cespedes. Melky Mesa to 3rd. Ichiro Suzuki to 2nd.

What this rather dry sentence does not tell you is the reason Melky Mesa went to third and didn’t score was because he missed the base. He ran right over it and never touched it. Someone said, ‘Rookie mistake’, uh duh! He is a rookie, but a worse mistake would have been for him to go home and been called out. So he went back to third, looking very dejected, and the next play he was out at home. I felt really bad for him, as they showed him dragging his feet across to the dugout. No high fives for him, he might get a base in his locker and he will always be remembered as the runner who missed 3rd base.

And then, Eduardo Nunez reaches on a fielding error by first baseman Brandon Moss. Ichiro Suzuki scores. An error, the first baseman dropped the ball and Ichiro ran in and scored the winning run. He was very happy, had a big grin and hugged, whoever was at the base when he ran in. Probably Nick. Nick likes to be in the middle of everything. Make an error against the Yankees and you will pay, in this case it was with the game. Yankees win, everybody is happy.

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

Rain, Rain, GO AWAY

Another rain delay, this time I was not in the Audi club, I was walking around the stadium with Sarah and not finding any place to sit. I don’t know how Andy and P. dwelt with it. Our seats were also in the bleachers which meant they were wet. We had these beach mats (promotional) and the kids put one down to sit on. However, they did not dry the seats first so we got wet butts. I would have preferred to go to Tuesday’s game, the almost no-hitter, but didn’t have tickets.

~~ Yankees 3, Rangers 2 ~~

The Yankees scored all three runs in the 3rd inning, no home runs, not that I’m counting or anything. When Josh Hamilton hit his home run in the 4th inning the guys behind me complained about Freddy. Oh excuse me, a solo shot by Josh Hamilton, who has hit 30 home runs this season and you are blaming Freddy? Then when Hamilton hit his second home run in the 6th inning, they cursed out Freddy. I almost punched them. He hits home runs, those two runs were the only runs Texas got that night, and you’re calling Freddy names? How about the fact that he didn’t let anyone get on base before the home run? How about the fact that the Yankees WERE NOT HITTING THE BALL? Idiots like that make me rage.

As it turned out, the Yankees didn’t need anymore than 3 runs thanks to Boone, David and Rafael not giving up any runs. And now Josh can say, “Hey, I finally hit a home run in Yankee Stadium! Two in fact.” The kids left early, they had to catch a train home before midnight. I stayed until the last out, with my wet butt and got to take a wet beach thingy home.

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

The Yankees won?

Not wanting to stay in this hot apartment today (July 4, so yesterday actually), I have AC but whenever it is on I see dollar bills floating up and away, far far away, I decided to walk around the city. So after I dyed my hair (such an exciting life I live) I left and headed toward the park, actually I was headed toward Beard Papa’s but it’s on the other side of the park. I made it through the Park without ending up on the same side I started on. That is more difficult then it sounds, normally I make a big loop when I walk through Central Park, starting on 5th Ave and ending up a few blocks up or down, but still on 5th. I have a tendency to ramble while walking and writing blog posts.

The game was on my mind, but since the Yankees ALWAYS lose in Tampa, (don’t yell at me, can you say 9 game losing streak? I’m not giving any credit to the Rays, hate hate HATE) I decided not to watch, not to follow on Gameday, just walk around, maybe catch a minor league game, but there again, SO HOT TODAY. Of course there is always Twitter, one of the beat writers keeps us apprised of the various hate trains (I have his tweets sent to my phone). So I knew pretty much what was happening. Phelps was pitching amazingly, not as amazing as David Price (can’t really blame that on the Trop I guess), the Rays got a run in the 4th, one run for Phelps. Then a home run from Teixeira in the 7th, tied game. Then the tweet: Logan kicks the dirt …. I didn’t really need to read more.

Andruw Jones Hate Train. All aboard!

— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) July 4, 2012

When it’s really hot, like it was today, I have this tummy issue, and for some reason beer helps make it go away. So by this time in the game I was looking for a bar, the first place was recommended by someone on twitter, I walked up the stairs and put my hand on the door to go in and got rained on. Fine, the ceiling leaked, water I hope, so I ran out and went down the street down about a block. I found a Korean place that serves Korean food and American craft beer. Standing at the door I looked up at this huge TV screen with baseball players running across home plate. Players that did not have ‘Rays’ on their chest, it was now 4-3 Yankees, top of the 8th. I walked in to get a beer and watch the rest of the game, still thinking, they could lose this, they always lose at the Trop. Well not today. And here is another example of wins not being a true indicator of a pitchers worth, the pitcher that gave up the go-ahead runs to the Rays was the same pitcher that got the win.

Two more things, for those of you on the Russell Martin hate train, don’t stop here you are not welcome. You think Stewart should be the everyday catcher? Are you on crack? His defense is not up to Martin’s numbers, Martin has 4 errors this year and so does Stewart who has played a third of the games Martin has. Yes he has a better ratio of throwing out runners stealing bases, he also has caught a lot of games for just one pitcher, and how much of catching a base stealer has to do with the speed of the ball to the plate? Don’t runners go on the pitch? They are typically running on the pitcher, even though the catcher gets the stat, it’s not all on him.

The other thing, if you have a sports blog check out Sportsrantz it is a network of sports blogs and a social site to share blog posts. They invited me to bring this blog over there, more exposure I guess. I wonder if they have actually read this blog. 😛

He’s BACK!!

~~ Yankees 10, Royals 4 ~~

Yes Nick Swisher was back in the line-up after a week out with a strained hamstring, but I was referring to Phil Hughes. His outings are getting longer and his record is now up to 2-4. Yes I know that doesn’t look great, but today his line was: 6.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 walk and 7 strike outs. The main thing is how long he lasted, that is encouraging to me, looking at him he looked more at ease, more determined and less uncertain. He threw 115 pitches which means he is being smarter about his pitches. He was in KC so he didn’t get an ovation, but I clapped for him in my living room.

Coming into the 3rd inning they were tied, Yankees scored 6 runs, 4 with a grand slam by Robbie. The Swish added a home run of his own. In the 8th inning Alex hit a 3 run home run. Combination of small ball and long ball.

Three runs were charged to Phil, the last a home run so Boone came in to replace him, the last run was in the 9th inning, a nice try for a rally that didn’t happen.

Game over: Yankees win.

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

The next opening day

The season opener was in Tampa on Good Friday, April 6. The home opener was the next Friday, April 13 against the Angels, NY Yankees 5, Angels 0. As I have mentioned, to anyone that will listen, I was not at the game and I desperately wanted to go, I wanted to go so bad that up to the last possible minute I kept checking StubHub™ hoping a ticket would magically appear for under $100. Every time I looked up tickets, I noticed that tickets for Sunday, which was also Jackie Robinson Day were really cheap, probably because the game was at 8:00pm on Sunday. I bought two tickets, it was cheaper to get two then one, go figure. Jackie Robinson Day was going to be my opening day.

Now I had two tickets and had to think of who did I want to go with me? I put a post on this blog, I casually mentioned it on Twitter, then I saw a tweep that I’ve met a few time, that has a few times tweeted me to “Come on Down to _____ for some drinks”, so I just asked her want to go to the game Sunday? I have an extra ticket. She was thrilled, it was her birthday weekend and she loves the Yankees. In particular Phil Hughes, she wore his shirt, she squealed when his picture came up on the Jumb-o-tron.

It was also calendar night so we got this nice calendar. It has coupons from subway and the Yankees in it are: April: Derek Jeter; May: Mariano Rivera (taken the day he got his 602nd save); June: Alex Rodriguez (he looks like he just hit a home run, he’s got that happy look on his face and relaxed); July: CC Sabathia; August: Robinson Cano; September: Mark Teixeira (I probably should tear September off and send it to Kasey); October: Nick Swisher (not Mr. October but hey, my sweet Nicky! Who two years in a row hit a walk off home run on my birthday. The next year and this year, no home game on my birthday, so no walk-off); November: Curtis Granderson; December: Russell Martin (without his face mask. Very important); January: Ivan Nova; February: David Robertson (who so coolly in this game got the last out with the bases loaded {thank you Rafe you bum}); March: Brett Gardner.

~~ Yankees 11, Angels 5 ~~

Everyone was wearing 42 today, before the game when C and I were eating pizza and drinking beer at the pizza place around the corner from the stadium, I wondered why they were showing an old Yankee game, I mean #42 was pitching, but the uniforms were the wrong color …… Then during the game she showed me a tweet, “I just turned on the Yankee game and couldn’t figure out why Mariano was pitching in the 5th inning.” So I wasn’t the only one confused.

The #42 that was pitching was Ivan Nova, despite having a cold he maintained his winning streak. 6 IP, 4 ER, 8 Ks and his ERA is now down to 4.15 (He ended spring training with an ERA over 8. I guess he needs the adrenalin of regular season). Derek Jeter and Raul Ibanez hit home runs. Then in the 7th inning Rafael comes in, gets two out and then walks two, the bases are loaded, I was screaming at him “You are not David Robertson! You cannot load the bases! If you lose this game for Ivan Nova I will kick your ass!” Since Joe didn’t want to see me get in trouble he called in D-Rob. When Boone came in for the 9th inning C pouted, she wanted to see Mo, but since it wasn’t a save situation no Mo, Boone pitched a scoreless 9th. Good game.

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

Bits and pieces, awards and football

Report: Yu Darvish bid tops Dice-K I’m not quite sure how this works, like a lot of things in the business end of baseball, as I understand it, this pitcher, Yu Darvish wants to come to play in the MLB. So the MLB teams that want him have to bid for him. Then his team (the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters) decides if they’ll accept the bid, then the team who made the bid gets to ‘talk’ to the player, to see if they can reach a deal. I don’t know if then the team has to pay MORE money to the player. I can’t find that out. However, the bidding has closed and the highest bid is a lot of money.

Greatness in Baseball Yearly Awards (GIBBYs) were announced on Friday night as the final word on Major League Baseball’s awards season. The Yankees had three: Derek Jeter for Performance of the Year, David Robertson for Setup Man and Robinson Cano for Wow Factor. Jose Valverde of the Tigers won Closer of the Year, which I was going to cry about, but it’s just for the year, and his numbers were better then Mo’s this year. However, Mo is still the greatest of all time. Speaking of Mo ….

Rivera recovering well after surgery on throat He had polyps removed from his vocal cords. We haven’t heard the results of the testing on the polyps, but this is one area where bad news usually travels faster then good news. Pretty sure he’ll be fine.

Yankees take two players in Rule 5 Draft Left-handed reliever Cesar Cabral, so if I understand this right, he was with the Red Sox, then the Royals picked him in the draft, then the Yankees paid the Royals for him (sounds a little bit like a slave auction, hmmm). So was he a Royals, or a Red Sox? The other player is a right-handed pitcher Brad Meyers, who was a starter with the Nationals.

The Yankees are keeping Hector Noesi as a starter and released Greg Golson. Good-bye Greg, I’ll never forget that throw you made from right field, it was a beauty.

Freddy Garcia will be a Yankee next year, they offered him a one year deal and he accepted. He likes playing in Pinstripes.

All eligible Yankees tendered contracts Joba, Phil, David, Brett, Boone (Boom-Boom-Boone) and Russell (HI! Russell) are all coming back next year. Russell even tweeted it. If it wasn’t so late I would find it and post a link.

Cano and Swisher are coming back, of course Cano is a no-doubter (as is Swisher in my mind). There is talk that the Yankees might use Swisher for trade, but I doubt it. If you trade Swisher, who’s going to play right field? Not only that but he can relieve Mark at first and he is good for 30 home runs a year and contributes to the clubhouse moral. Not only that, he loves New York and would cry if he had to leave.

The biggest news of all (pun intended) is that CC is coming back. So we will have our Ace, our Big Stoppa, our Great Devourer of Innings. He also let the fans know, he posted a video saying he wanted to let the fans know himself, he is coming back to New York.

However, the Yankees are not the only ones busy acquiring things during the off-season, I got these two beautiful pins.

On the subject of football, I’m not really a football fan, but I’ve been trying to keep myself occupied instead of just moping about waiting for baseball to start again. I have been a Bills fan since I lived in Buffalo, it wasn’t that hard to abandon the Bucs when I left Florida, and I still am. However, I decided I can root for two teams. I picked the Ravens for 3 reason. One is they beat the Steelers (TWICE!) and I hate the Steelers. Two is their uniforms are purple (pretty!). Third is the quarterback is a real cutie (his wife is pregnant with their first baby, how presh is that!). So I bought some cute purple stuff, a t-shirt, some fuzzy socks and a dog tag (it has an engraveable back, I don’t know what I would put there but if I ever do, ….. So I am hoping they make it to the superbowl. If not them, maybe the Giants, I can root for the Giants, they are almost a New York team.