Haters gonna hate

The Yankees signed Andrew Miller to a four-year $36 billion deal, when this happened the speculation was that the Yankees wouldn’t try to keep David Robertson, which turned out to be true, no offer was made to D-Rob from the Yankees and he signed a four-year $46 million deal with the White Sox. He will be their new closer.

While I was expecting to hear the news that Robertson signed elsewhere, it still hurt to read the news. I briefly, for about 30 seconds, considered quitting the Yankees, it was their fault after all, but where would I go? The White Sox? After all a team is not one player.

As closer for the Yankees in 2014 Robertson had 44 save opportunities and was successful 39 times. He struck out 96 batters over 64-1/3 innings. Andrew Miller has been signed as a reliever, not a closer which leads me to wonder who will be closer for the Yankees next year.

One of the things the Yankees are criticized about is their lack of ‘home grown’ talent. “The Yankees buy their championships.” Here was a player who came up through the Yankee system, who was home-grown talent, who took over for Mariano Rivera, the best closer in baseball and did an admirable job. And the Yankees traded him essentially, for Andrew *bleeping* Miller. I think that is what I am maddest about.

But I am just a fan, and I will get over this. Baseball is a business after all, albeit one that breaks your heart.

D-Rob ticket bombs New Yorkers

One of my favorite pitchers. And the guy in the red hat is kind of precious, but watch till the end to see.

8 P.M. Sunday games are the best, not really

This is game number four, I forgot to write about the Boston game, well forgot is not the correct word. I kept putting it off, Saturday night I though “I really should write about the last game I went to before I go to the next game.” Then I fell asleep before the game Sunday and had no time. So let me just say, the game was great, the fans pissed me off which is what normally happens.

~~ Yankees 3, Angels 2 ~~

The seat I had for this game was pretty good, on the main level, a little past the visitor’s dugout, nice view, up under the roof, which I didn’t really need since it was a night game, but it was somewhat protected from the wind so I wasn’t freezing. Of course the temperatures weren’t that bad. Not like opening week, when I went to 3 games and swore I wasn’t going to another game until July when it was warm. What can I say, I’m a sucker for a discount, when I got offered a deal I jumped at it, didn’t look at the game time though, thinking it would be a day game. ESPN I hate you.

I’ve developed a bit of a routine when I go to the games, first I get a hot sausage on a gluten-free roll, then I walk to my seat, then turn around and walk toward the seats behind home plate and I keep going till I get to the stairs heading to the bleachers, then turn around and come back. Normally I come back to my seat but this time I decided to stop in the store at the top of the stairs from the Great Hall. I decided to just snap pictures to kill time and give me something to write about, since I am so good at game analysis the real writers beg me not to write about the game in my blog ….. yes that’s a lie. You can click on any of the pictures to get a bigger image.

This little bear is really cute, I didn’t feel it but it looks really soft, perfect for a baby and I will give fans under 12 months of age a pass on wearing team colors. But once you are able to walk by yourself it’s not acceptable. Of course when it comes to pink team apparel, some are worse than others and while I would personally not buy this for any child of mine, I don’t really object to a little pink hat like this. Some hats however are an abomination.

Hot pink with tiger stripes. I don’t even know what to say about this, it’s wrong on so many levels. Pink is bad enough but tiger strips? Not only the wrong colors, but you can’t even see the logo! Don’t even get me started on the pink bats. They are wiffle bats, I hope I got that right, but with a pink cover with hearts on them. All for sale at Yankee Stadium, I suppose other stadiums sell similar items, but I thought it was rather clever of the Yankees to sell baseball cards in a packet with the Angels on the label when they were playing the Angels. Maybe that wasn’t intentional. Also they have the fat bands with Tanaka on them, which I almost bought. But I had told myself before the game I was only buying food, no souvenirs this time.

After all this wandering and photography it was time to sit, so I did, and so did some other people and had me seriously annoyed by the second inning. I will never understand people who come to the game and then proceed to not watch it. Maybe I am being unfair because they had just got there and obviously needed time to catch up with each other, maybe they should have got to the stadium before the game started in that case. Long story short, I got up to walk around. For quite a while then I came back. I was kind of hoping they would be gone, instead they had moved over and one of them was sitting in my seat. I came in the row and sat down in the next seat. So the man in my seat said, someone is sitting there, I told him, well you’re in my seat. This lead to a discussion of seats and people sitting in others seats and blah blah blah, which lead to me once again leaving my seat.

This time I didn’t go far, I just waited around until they left the seats and swooped in and got mine. Only to be told by the man on the other side, that he thought someone was sitting there. So I told HIM, this is my seat, I paid for it. At which point he laughed and said, “Well he told me I was sitting in his seat.” Surprisingly, they never came back to claim their seats. The rest of the game went by in relative peace, except for one really loud fan that kept yelling “SUPER-SIZE ME!” No idea what that means. There was an Angels fan with a rally monkey, at which point I took my hat off and turned it around, “Rally Hat” (it’s only weird if it doesn’t work). Then the Yankees were behind, then they tied it and my battery was dying so I plugged it in to charge it and the Yankees got another run, on a walk, a walk, a passed ball and a wild pitch. With the Yankees only one run ahead, I had to stay where I was, couldn’t risk moving. David Robertson got his 4th save of the season. Cue Frank Sinatra, run to the ladies room before heading to the train.

Tanaka walked more batters during this game than he has walked in all his previous starts. Can I blame the Angels fan with the monkey for that? However, he struck out 11, his ERA is 2.27 and his WHIP is 0.093, in other words, even when he is having an off night, he is still having a good night. Yankees were behind when he left the game so Warren gets the win.

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

Game 25
Yankees 15-10 (0.600)

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)

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 ~~ 😛

ALDS GAME 2

~~ Yankees 2, Orioles 3 ~~
ALDS: Yankees 1, Orioles 1

Live blogging: The Orioles game is currently in rain delay, estimated start time: 8:45 P.M.

Cards pasted the Nationals. Cardinals 12, Nationals 4

Play Ball!!
Top 1:
Jeter singles to center field; Wei-Yin Chen is throwing fast balls, Ichiro reaches on an error; 2 on, no outs; Alex hits into a double play, a weird double play (second baseman caught the line drive, then tossed to second, Alex and Derek out). Robbie hits into the corner, Ichiro comes home, avoids the tag by Matt Wieters. Nick Swisher out at first.

Bottom 1:
Fly ball to left, one out; 2nd batter grounds out to Cano, two out; 3rd batter strikes out. 1-2-3 inning for Andy. Yankees 1, Orioles 0

Top 2:
Baltimore fans boo Teixeira, he pops out to first baseman; Russell fly ball center field; Curtis strikes out.

Bottom 2:
Pop out to Robinson Cano; Ground out third base to first; Strike out. Yankees 1, Orioles 0

Top 3:
Eduardo Nunez is the DH, (WHAT? Nunez DHing?) Pops out 3rd base; Jeter strikes out looking, but he doesn’t agree, is muttering as he walks back to the dug-out; Ichiro singles; Alex singles, runners at first and second; Cano grounds out to the pitcher.

Bottom 3:
Fly out to left field; Jeter to Mark; #9 batter breaks bat, ball drops before Curtis, 1st hit for the Orioles; McLouth in a single to center field, runners on first and second. This is vintage Andy, get into trouble – gets out of trouble. Walks batter, bases loaded and a power hitter coming up. Base hit to right field, two runs score. Baltimore in the lead by one run. Base hit, bases loaded again, bad base running by Baltimore; pop-out to Cano. Yankees 1, Orioles 2

Top 4:
Swisher swings out; Lined up the middle, base hit for Teixeira; Russell walks; Base hit for Curtis, bases are now loaded with one out. Nunez pops out; Jeter hits the ball to the third baseman. RISP FAIL. Ugh.

Bottom 4:
Base hit, bad throw by Jeter and Mark has to jump for it; Strike out; Ball hit to A-Rod gets the runner out at second. Hit to Cano, get the runner at second, again. Yankees 1, Orioles 2

Top 5:
Now it is time for the Yankees to get some runs. Ichiro thrown out at first; A-Rod flies out to center field; Robbie thrown out at first. The inning took about as long to play as it took me to type this. 4 pitches, that is disgusting.

Bottom 5:
McLouth reaches on an error; Hardy called out on strikes; Davis hits a fly ball to Curtis; Adam Jones hits a fly ball to Swisher, who catches it. Yankees 1, Orioles 2

Top 6:
Swisher grounds out; Mark flies out to left field; Base hit for Russell, scratch that, reached on an error; Granderson pops up and out.

Bottom 6:
Weiters get a double; Reynolds smokes it, Weiters scores; Thome strikes out; Machado hits it to Andy, who turns and throws it to 2nd, then Robbie throws on to Mark. That was pretty boss of Andy. Yankees 1, Orioles 3

Top 7:
Nunez leads off with a double (cause he runs fast like bunny, or the road runner, or whatever); Jeter hits the ball over Hardy’s head and Nunez scores; Ichiro hits the ball to Hardy and Jeter is out at second, but Ichiro makes it to first;

Chen’s night is done, Darren O’Day comes in to face Alex Rodriguez. Alex strikes out, Ichiro steals second;

My router crapped out right here, to recap the Orioles brought in a new pitcher, Cano was walked and Swisher hit a fly ball to make the last out.

Bottom 7:
1-2-3 inning Yankees 2, Orioles 3

Top 8:
Teixeira gets on first; Russell strikes out looking on a ball off the plate 😦 ; Curtis strikes out; Nunez pops out.

Bottom 8:
Davis hits over Andy’s head, over 2nd base and he gets on first.

New pitcher for the Yankees. David Robertson – fields the ball and gets Jones at first, runner advances to second; Weiters grounds out to first. Reynolds swings at the air. Yankees 2, Orioles 3

Top 9:
Jim Johnson is in for the Orioles.
Jeter grounds out; Ichiro grounds out. One more out and it’s the end for the Yankees. Alex strikes out. Yankees lose.

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

Sometimes I hate baseball

Tonight was one of those nights. Dave Robinson’s wife had a baby today. He came in and pitched a scoreless inning, then Rafael came in and blew it. Derek hit a tying home run and Clay Rapada pitched scoreless then Derek Lowe got the loss. I personally think Soriano should have the L beside his name, at least he got a blown save by his name. However since I don’t want to talk about this I’m going to post some pictures I took after the game I went to with the kids. The game with the huge rain delay that ended around midnight. I took these pictures of the Stadium at night from the platform of the #4 train, I missed the colored lights but now I know to wait for them next time.

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 ~~ 😛

They got the split

It wasn’t pretty, not like an Olympic gymnast’s split, and speaking of gymnastics, (it took me all day to figure out how to get gymnastics into a baseball blog, give me points for effort) I got slammed for posting a gif of McKayla Maroney flubbing up her vault. She was the favorite for Gold, she just had to make her vault, she didn’t, she landed on her butt. And I put it on Google+, so what? What impressed me was she jumped up, took her bow before the crowd and left the mat. No drama, no crying her little eyes out and getting tear stains on her pretty pink leotard. She got up and moved on. She is a champion. Much like the Yankees.

The Yankees were up 9 games in the AL East, then they hit a slump, ‘fell on their butts’ so to speak, they had a 4 game losing streak and saw their lead began to shrink down to 4.5 games. What were they going to do? They got up, dusted themselves off and moved on. The Tigers had an 8 game win streak at home when the Yankees came to town, it stretched to 10 and then the Yankees broke it, Yankees 12, Tigers 8. The Yankees called on their ace, and CC delivered. I watched this game, on and off, went in the bathroom when Dave got in trouble and then, boom he was out of it. When the Tigers got within one run I ran down to get a Perrier, because, “THE YANKEES DON’T WIN ONE RUN GAMES!” In the end, it was a win.

~~ Yankees 4, Tigers 3 ~~

Today I was at work, to be honest I didn’t even know the game was on until I saw a tweet about Stewart throwing the ball quick, (oh he threw out Omar Infante at 2nd, and turned a double play so of course that makes him a better catcher than Russell Martin [I’m practicing my sarcasm]). Kuroda was the starting pitcher and gave up 3 runs in the 5th but since he had such terrific run support, (how am I doing?) he didn’t get the win, Clay Rapada gets the win and the Yankees actually won a game by one run.

It’s wasn’t without its nail-biting moments. When I turned on MLB at bat Game Day on my phone and saw Yankees 4, Tigers 3, OK good then, it’s the ninth and Soriano is pitching and men on the corners and no outs. I got that little strangled feeling in my throat and yes, I closed the app. Waited for the text message the one that says:

V.MLB FINAL
Yankees 4, Tigers 3,
WP: C.Rapada (3,0)
LP: J.Benoit (1,3)
HR: M.Teixeira 21,
A.Avila 7. (AP)

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