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 รจ tutto, dice la principessa ~~ ๐Ÿ˜›
tb
Game 19
Yankees 11-8 (0.579)

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

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First game attended

I finally got to a game. Kasey bought tickets for me and Sarah because she was coming to spend the night. Really was hoping for a great game experience.

~~ Yankees 4, D-backs 2 ~~

It didn’t exactly turn out that way. I got my usual hot sausage on a gluten free roll and Sarah got nachos. They were were kind of soggy and stale, although the cheese had a nice flavor. I finished them for her so she could get pizza. Which she did, after she got ice cream and we both had hot chocolate. You might think that after all that she would get a stomach ache, actually I was the one that ended up with a stomach ache. It was so bad we had to leave.

Nova was o.k., or at least better than the last time. Only gave up 2 runs, when we left during the middle of the 4th the Yankees hadn’t scored yet, Sarah had to visit the ladies room and I was keeping track of the game. That’s how I knew when Robinson Cano hit a home run it was a 3 run home run which put the Yankees in the lead.

After getting home I turned on the TV so I could at least see Mo pitch. So the evening wasn’t a total loss.

~~ Questo รจ tutto, dice la principessa ~~ ๐Ÿ˜›

Game 12
Yankees 7-5 (0.583)

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 รจ tutto, dice la principessa ~~ ๐Ÿ˜›

The longest game

Not the longest game ever, but —->

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 รจ tutto, dice la principessa ~~ ๐Ÿ˜›

One of my problems with writing posts

Is deciding on a title, first I was going to use HIROK HIROK HIROK, then I thought, well it was Hiroki and Ichiro, so maybe IT WAS A NIGHT FOR THE JAPS …. but then I thought either of those titles could be considered offensive, and I don’t want to offend anyone, so I didn’t use either. Obviously.

~~ Yankees 4, Red Sox 1 ~~

So what can I say about Kuroda and Ichiro that hasn’t already been said? I was thinking this game would be a win for the Yankees, mainly because Kuroda was pitching. It’s kind of the thing I say about C.C., if he’s pitching you have a better than even chance it’ll be a win. Of course C.C. is on the D.L. along with Andy so we are now relying on Kuroda, Phelps and Garcia. Hughes is rather hit or miss right now, but I have faith, he will come through for us. Nova is also a pitcher that needs seasoning and experience. I also think he will go on to great things for us.

Yankees just need to keep moving forward, keep winning games and go all the way.

~~ Questo รจ tutto, dice la principessa ~~ ๐Ÿ˜›

Baltimore Orioles at New York Yankees have been made aware

First lets go to Tuesday night, as I was lounging around my apartment doing this and that in my comfy Modell’s socks, the brightly colored ones with the black leopard spots on them. Kasey sent me a text about our boys hitting, they were up 5 runs in the 1st inning. So I turned on the TV only to see the O’s start hitting Nova, hard. I went in the bathroom thinking, “Nova will get out of this”, only to hear Michael Kay say, “It’s a grand slam for Chris Davis!” Really Chris? You had to hit your first grand slam against the Yankees? I’m not superstitious, which is why I was wearing ORANGE socks, when I looked down at my feet and started thinking my feet looked like Orioles, I tore them off and threw them in the garbage.

It didn’t help. Those 5 runs were the only runs the Yankees scored. The O’s however, after scoring 7 in the second inning went on to score 4 more.

~~ Yankees 12, Orioles 3 ~~

This day started early with breakfast at Kasey and my favorite breakfast place in the city. Then some shopping, then heading up to the Bronx, she wanted to get a Joba shirt, mainly to annoy her husband, and to support Bald Vinny. Then on to the game, at which point someone tweeted me that I would bring the Yankees a win. Kasey scoffed, ‘Didn’t help last Saturday.’

So the Yankees started out slow with 2 runs, then 2 more runs, Phil was aces, only one run for the O’s in the second inning. Then came the 3rd inning. 1 run, 2 runs, 3 runs, and then the bases are loaded, and Cano is fouling off pitches, taking that walk around the plate and then, don’t you know? Robinson Cano loves me. GRAND SLAM

Phil Hughes did not give up a home run this game. He was ‘dreamy'(a statement that lead to an interesting Twitter convo, what do you think of the Twitter handle, “BSBH_Foxx”?). There was a new guy in playing first base, Casey McGehee from the Pirates. Joba came in the top of the 7th, to thunderous applause. He pitched 1 and 2/3 innings and gave up 2 runs. He needs to get used to being back in the Bigs. He’ll come around. Ichiro Suzuki IS a spider monkey, where I was sitting I could see the left field wall and he went straight up that wall and snagged a fly ball. He also has a nice ….. walk, yeah that’s my story.

End of the day, Yankees are still number one and Orioles are still NOT.

~~ Questo รจ tutto, dice la principessa ~~ ๐Ÿ˜›

Selfish Curtis Granderson

The Yankees swept the Mets. On June 8th the Yankees won 9-1, they hit 3 home runs in this game. It was the first game Johan had pitched after his no-hitter and the three home runs came one after the other against him. The next game was on June 9 and I wrote about it in my last blog post, they hit 2 home runs winning the game by 2 runs. In the game on June 10, the Mets were up 3 runs until the 7th inning then Russell hit a 2 run home run, then two more runs in the 8th put them ahead. Sori gave up a run in the top of the 9th to tie the score. In the bottom of the 9th Russell hit another home run, this was for the win, a walk off home run. Yankees hit home runs in each game.

The series against the Braves was a sweep also, and the Yankees hit home runs in each of those games. June 11, 3-0 and 1 home run; June 12, 6-4 with 2 home runs; June 13, 3-2 with 1 home run.

In some of these games, you could say they wouldn’t have won without the home runs. The game on June 10th, the winning run was a home run. On June 9th the Yankees won by 2 runs and scored 3 of their runs by way of home runs. The home run hit by Mark Teixeira was with Curtis Granderson on base, the one Curtis hit was a solo shot. Phil also pitched very well, only giving up 2 runs to the Mets, so that helped. In the game against the Braves on June 12, going into the 8th the score was 4-0 Atlanta, then with the bases loaded Alex Rodriguez hit a home run. It was his 23rd Grand Slam, tying him with Lou Gehrig (this made Lindsey sad, I was sad too, but then someone pointed out even though he tied the record, that doesn’t make Alex as great a player as Lou. I don’t know if that made Lindsey feel better, but it helped me). After Robbie got on base, Swisher hit a home run to put the Yankees up 6-4 and then on June 13, Curtis hit a two run homer in the 6th which put the Yankees ahead.

However there were other games that would have been run without the home run. Such as the game on June 11 against the Braves. First of all, Ivan pitched a shut out, and he got a hit, his first. The Yankees scored three runs, one was a home run, so without that home run the Yankees would have won 2-0 instead of 3-0.

Then there was today’s game, which the Yankees were winning going into the 9th inning with a score of 6-1, all without a home run. We were all excited, thinking “Will this be it? Will the Yankees finally win a game without hitting a home run?” Yes the Yankees have hit at least one home run in all of their winning games. Then Curtis Granderson just had to hit one out of the park. His 20th this year and the Yankees are still without a winning game without a home run. Will it never end? Curtis is just so selfish.

I managed to type that without laughing. The Yankees are getting men on base, not all their home runs are single shots, and what better way to bring your teammates home than with a home run? The Yankees have power hitters in their line ups and Curtis wasn’t going to swing for a single with a 3-1 count. Not when he got a 4-seam fastball. Joe keeps telling people, a home run is a hit. Someday they’ll believe it.

While I don’t know yet if the Yankees are going to sweep, they are off to a good start. And for the last two sweeps, fireworks are in order I think.

Live blogging the rubber game ~ Baltimore vs New York, 5/2

We know what has happened so far, on Friday Kuroda pitched a gem, (and made a fantastic tag at the plate in the 7th inning), Mariano got his 5th save and Yankees won. Saturday, Phil was not so great, Nunez bobbled the play and the bats took a vacation. Tonight is the rubber game. Nova normally gets great run support. Here is another attempt by me of live blogging. Due to the nature of this post, I will be posting the score at the bottom of the post. It’s almost game time, I’m going to turn on my TV now.

Inning 1: Top
Chavez grounds out 1;
Hardy singles; Markakis doubles, Hardy to third; Jones flies out to Cano (making fools aware) LOVE 2
Wieters walks (Ken may have just jinxed Nova ~ RAGE); Davis strikes out 3

Bottom
Jeter strikes out 1
Granderson flies out to center field 2
Rodriguez singles; Cano strikes out 3

Inning 2: Top
Johnson grounds out 1
Reynolds flies out 2
Andino walks; Chavez pops out to Chavez (I crack myself up) 3

Bottom
Teixeira grounds out (2-19) 1
Ibanez flies out 2
Chavez strikes out 3

Inning 3: Top
1, 2, 3

This game is a pitchers duel so far **crickets**
Scoring plays only, cause I’m knitting, this is hard and I’m sure boring for you.

Inning 4: Top
Wieters Home Run Orioles 1, Yankees 0
Davis grounds out 1
Johnson with a double; Strike-out 2
Single; Pop-out 3

Bottom
1, 2, 3;

Inning 5: Bottom
Chavez out (injury)

Inning 6: Top
Andino gets an RBI with 1 out. Orioles 2, Yankees 0
Double play 2, 3

Bottom
Nothing, Nada, Zip, Pffffft

Inning 7: Top
Markakis Home Run Orioles 3, Yankees 0
Wieters RBI Double Orioles 4, Yankees 0

Nova is out, 15 winning streak broken. :(; Chavez has concussion or whiplash;
Johnson RBI Double Orioles 5, Yankees 0

Andino is just a beast.

Freddy pitched scoreless out of the pen. Orioles pitched scoreless whole game.

~~ Orioles 5, Yankees 0 ~~

~~ Questo รจ tutto, dice la principessa ~~ ๐Ÿ˜ฆ

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 StubHubโ„ข 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 รจ tutto, dice la principessa ~~ ๐Ÿ˜›