Let me tell you a story

**contains profanity**
As I write this the Yankees have just lost to the Red Sox. Earlier today I unfriended a guy that claims to be a Yankee fan but does nothing but complain about how bad the team is and how bad Girardi manages, today he said he wanted to “test Teixeira’s leg with a ball peen hammer.” Maybe he has never had a bone bruise, I unfollowed him.

I am the only Yankee fan in my family. My mother is from Detroit, she roots for the the Tigers and the Spartans (although she will deny it, I know the truth). My father is from Arkansas and is a college sports fan, in particular college football. He is a fountain of knowledge, the smartest man I know. I was born in California but I grew up in Florida. I hated Florida and clung to California, rooting for any California team, mainly just to piss people off. Sometime in my teenage years I saw Catfish Hunter pitch. My father told me ‘You don’t want to root for the Yankees.’ The NY Yankees, a place I had never been, never imagined I ever go even to visit. In retrospect he was right, rooting for the Yankees is heartbreaking. But as a teenage girl, an unhappy teenage girl who hated her life and her parents, it stuck a thought in my head. And when I met the person who became my BFF, who is still my BFF, who offered a place to live in New York with her, I ran away from home. I was 22. If you knew my mother you would know why I say I ran away from home. Now as a New Yorker I no longer had to be a closet Yankee fan. I could be open about it.

My family of course still hated it (they will maintain they don’t hate me, but I have my doubts), they are now living in Seattle and so are Mariners fans. Except for my father who is still a college (Arkansas) football fan, and still the smartest man I know. And still wonders where he went wrong that one of his children still roots for the Yankees.

That brings me to this year, this has been a horrible year for me. On Memorial Day my nephew died. He had cancer, and even worse than that, my father called to tell me and he was crying. I HAVE NEVER HEARD MY FATHER CRY IN MY LIFE. When my other nephew died, my brother called because “Daddy said he tired and going to bed.” It was only midnight, something was wrong. Maybe he cried, but I never heard it. It shook me, my father is strong, if I needed anything I could count on him, then in July he went in the hospital because of a problem with his colon and had emergency surgery, then another surgery. I felt my life was falling apart. Now he’s home and healing, but weak my mother says. FUCK YOU CANCER AND OLD AGE!

Now, I need something good to happen, which is not happening, the fucking Blue Jays in FIRST PLACE! NO the Yankees have to win, the Yankees have to at least make it to the world series. Your princess commands it.

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You don’t have to be a stud to be yummy ~ May 30

~~ Yankees 5, Athletics 0 ~~

He isn’t tall and handsome, he is kind of dumpy with a round face, kind of cute though, and he just pitched 9 innings, 4 hits, no runs. What can I say; I’m a sucker for lights out pitchers. Remember my introduction to the Yankees was Jim ‘Catfish’ Hunter.

He was helped out by a home run by Mark Teixeira after Derek Jeter hit a single, then Robbie brought Alex home after a walk. The Yankees were up 3 runs, as was mentioned, Colon only needed 1. When asked about the game later, Colon said, “I always try to pitch like its 0-0.” Good plan, it seems to work for him.

Gardner and Cervelli each stole two bases, one time they stole at the same time, Gardner stole second, Cervelli was on first and they each advanced. It’s so much fun watching them run.

Two more games against the A’s, I’m hoping for a sweep. Everybody got their brooms?

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

Deserving of his own post

If you have ever read my page, you will know my favorite Yankee of all time is Jim “Catfish” Hunter. Here’s a little tidbit from a fellow Yankee tweeter:

@MyPinstripes: On this day in 1979, the #Yankees held Catfish Hunter Day. RIP Cat

~~and that’s all~~ lo dice la principessa 😛

Saturday, September 4, 2010 ~ Still bringing my boys luck

~~Yankees 7, Blue Jays 5~~

When Kasey and I got to the train station she turns to me, “I hear a train whistle.” She was worried, I said, “It’s across the river.” She grinned back at me, “You’re right.” Across the river from the MetroNorth station is another railroad track, the train whistles carry across the water, you can tell by the tone of the whistle though, especially when you hear them every day.

We had originally planned to go downtown first but since we got started later then planned we went straight to the Stadium and decided to have lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, which is also a Rock Music museum, while waiting for our table I was looking at pictures on the wall. There was a picture of Bob Dylan which I read and learned that Bob Dylan wrote a song about Catfish Hunter (I have since bought it and put it on my iPod). We took a quick walk by to say Hi to @SimplySmoov who was busy working. I took my scorebook, which lead to an interesting encounter while waiting for the D train. It got messed up right away, since I wrote Yankees line up while on the train and it was changed by the time we got to the stadium. Swisher got scratched and Thames was put in right field, don’t know why him and not Kearns, maybe for his bat?

The Jays took an early lead, then the Yankees tied then went ahead, then the Blue Jays tied up the game again, all by the 5th inning. Vazquez was the starting pitcher, was taken out in the 5th inning and Moseley came in and first pitch was hit hard and the Blue Jays scored the two runs that tied the game, all the runs were charged to Javier, not a good day for him. Then in the 7th inning Marcus Thames hit a two run home run. The rest of the relief pitchers held the Jays to no runs.

At the end of the eighth inning Kasey turns to me and says, “Is it Mo time?” And it was. Being at the stadium when Mo comes out to pitch is an electric experience, like none other. At the second out, the crowd stands and just waits. Mo did not disappoint, with 10 pitches he was done.

Sometime during the game they showed hi-lights from yesterdays game, they showed the last out, a pop-up in foul territory, Pena comes down from 3rd base to catch it, Mo came over to catch it, and almost runs into him, he pulls up at the last minute and his shoulder were shaking, like he was laughing.

Some personal notes: Jose Bautista was booed every time he came up to bat, the last time he was called out and he got mad, started arguing with the umpire and was promptly thrown out. The crowd just went crazy, waving their arms at him, shooing him back to the dugout. Sitting near us were some Jays fans. We could tell by the Canadian flag this one guy was wearing as a cape. The guy behind me was a real loud mouth, the woman next to Kasey kept bumping her with her elbow, and there was this old lady a couple rows away from us clapping her hands and yelling like she knew something (she didn’t).

Kasey called Thames home run. Don’t know how she could see he was antsy from our seats but she did and said this is it. Boom into the bullpen. Then waiting for the 4 train, the man behind me remarked that we had the same scorebook. I didn’t show him how messy mine was, but he and his wife (?) are from the San Francisco Bay area, but are Yankee fans. They come out every year for their vacation, schedule it to attend 5 or 6 games. That is my idea of a vacation. I wonder if my mom would take me to Yankee games when I visit her in Seattle.

It was a beautiful day for a ballgame, and a perfect evening to be walking around Manhattan. After the game we went downtown, sort of to do shopping, but instead we walked around. Went in a few stores found nothing then stopped to eat at Madison and Vine. We both had been wanting to eat there.

~~and that’s all~~ lo dice la principessa 😛

Monday, August 2, 2010 ~ Another sad anniversary

~~Blue Jays 8, Yankees 6~~

Today is the anniversary of the death of Thurman Munson. I didn’t know him. What I mean by that is I have no memories of him from when he was alive, like I have memories of other famous people. Back then, I barely knew who the Yankees were. I knew they had a pitcher named Catfish Hunter and not much else.

What I know I learned from watching Yankeeography and Yankees Classics. From reading articles and blogs. I do remember that last year, Jorge had the #15 on his mask on August 2. I watched game 5 of the 1976 ALCS, and Thurman Munson got hit in the throat with a foul ball, he didn’t leave the game. He would have played even if he had a broken foot. The game was that important. Click the link below for a very moving blog post about him.

As for todays game, there is not much to say, the only inning I watched was the 5th inning. Oh A.J., you know I love you, but I don’t know what to say.

~~and that’s all~~ she wrote

31 Years & a Lifetime Ago

Sad day for Yankees and baseball ~ July 13, 2010

Unlike many that have posted about George M. Steinbrenner I am not from New York. I was born in California. As a young person, with my parents having no particular team affiliation, I felt being from California meant I was a Dodgers fan. This feeling continued even with moving to Seattle and then on to Florida. At that time, there were no teams named Seattle Mariners or Tampa Bay Rays. It was while growing up in Florida that I discovered the Yankees, mainly due to a pitcher with the interesting name (nickname) of Catfish Hunter. I think he got the nickname because of his mustache. My father’s response to my question of what team that was gave me the impression I wasn’t supposed to be rooting for them. That was another reason to root for them. But I was a good girl, so I wasn’t open about it.

Moving to New York changed that. I bought a Yankees hat, one of several, I currently have 5, 2 that just have NY on the front, 2 that say 2009 World Series Champions (one I got free at a Yankee game) and 1 that has #2 Derek Jeter, or maybe just Jeter, and when I left one at my mother’s house and asked her to mail it to me, she joked that she might send me a Mariner’s hat instead, I threatened her with bodily harm. I wasn’t entirely joking.

At the time I was what most would call a casual fan, in the past year I have become a very involved fan, going to games, watching games on T.V., reading about the teams and players and keeping track of the numbers. Almost(completely) obsessed with the Yankees and baseball.

Somewhere along the way, I missed the importance of George Steinbrenner.

Oh, I’m not saying I didn’t know who he was, I would have had to been living in a cave not to know about George and Billy. With commercials like this and watching Yankeeography about Yogi Berra and Billy Martin, I knew a lot about George. I’m saying I missed how important he was, what he meant to the Yankees and how he changed baseball. Call me clueless. For example, I thought he always owned the Yankees.

Now, as I read tributes and blog post and see how affected people are by his death, I feel like an outsider, someone who can only offer their hand and say, I’m here for you, lean on me. So that is what I am doing, to all my fellow Yankee fans and friends who have lost someone important to them, I offer my condolences, friendship and support.

Well, yeah, I had to include this commercial, whats a Steinbrenner post without Jeter?

~~and that’s all~~ she wrote

1976 ALCS

Turned on to see if the game was on, Yankees vs. Houston Astros, (4-6 btw) and once again I find myself watching Yankees Classics. This time it is game 5 of the 1976 ALCS, NY Yankees vs. Kansas City Royals. In 1976 Billy Martin was manager and it was the first year Catfish Hunter pitched for the Yankees and it was also the first time they had been back to the World Series since 1964. They didn’t win it in 1976. The announcers were Howard Cosell, Keith Jackson and Reggie Jackson. Chris Chambliss hit the winning home run, it makes the Top 10 Playoff Home Runs in Baseball History list. It seems weird to see #25 on the mound, and #2 being worn by a skinny black guy. First baseman Chris Chambliss was a rather good looking man. In fact, if you check out the YouTube clip below, he was still rather good looking in 2008.

6. Chris Chambliss, New York Yankees, 1976 ALCS Game 5

Interview with Chris Chambliss

Btw, it is now the top of the 9th, 5-8 Houston, Final score Yankees 6, Houston 8

~~and that’s all she wrote~~

My first blog post

But not my first blog. I was using up so much space on my other blog talking about the Yankees that I finally decided to start a blog where I could just talk about the Yankees.

I am sitting here watching Game 2 of the ALCS, 11th inning. I did not want to be up this late watching the game, but then I suppose the Yankees did not want to go to 11 innings and have to play in the rain.

As mentioned in my profile, I have been a Yankees fan for as long as I can remember. Not an easy thing to do living in California. My parents of course, wanted me to be a Dodger fan, but once I saw Catfish Hunter pitching, there really was nothing they could do to convince me the Dodgers were worth following. I had to hide the fact that the Yankees were the team I loved, but now I am in New York and it is socially acceptable to be a Yankees fan. Since my parents are living in the northwest corner of the US, I have the unique pleasure of wearing my Yankee hat when I go visit them and being a total brat(I even made my mother buy me a new one when I lost mine one visit). I could say it was my father’s fault, since he had the game on, but he always had a game on, that is how I know as much as I do about sports. He is what I call a sports fan, he never had any fan affiliation, other then the Arkansas Razerbacks, and the home team, wherever we were living at the time. He just liked to watch sports, any sport as long as it was televised. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a sports nerd, I just know enough to enjoy watching a baseball game. Anything else I want to know I just go online to find out.

**Breaking news** Alex just got a home run! Now the game is again tied up, COME ON BOYS! I DON’T WANT TO GO TO 12 INNINGS! O.K. we are now on to 12 innings. And it is pouring down rain.**

Another reason I started this blog was I like talking about baseball and the Yankees but I have only my best friend and I have a lot I want to say. I can’t talk to the guys I work with, (I work with all guys), most don’t follow baseball, the ones that do, one is an idiot, the other thinks I am an idiot. I have my opinions and I don’t like it when people tell me I am wrong. If I say, “Derek Jeter is the best (and cutest) shortstop in the world.” I know that is my opinion, please don’t tell me I am wrong. If I say “Gardner is fast.” I am just saying it because when I watch the game, it looks to me like he is running fast. Of course I suspect the guy who told me he isn’t fast was only saying that because he likes to annoy me or just enjoys being a total sh*thead.

Last night I was really impressed with CC Sabathia going 8 innings. Eight innings and he was still throwing the ball 95 mph. Then Mariano Rivera comes in and finished. I don’t know if you can call it a ‘save’ when the Yankees were ahead. Now they just have to strike out this last batter and get a run in the next 1/2 inning. And I am signing off now.