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

Robinson Cano and his sweet swing

The Indians home opener ended pretty much the same way as the Yankees home opener. With a loss for the home team. It was also a reunion of Nick Swisher, former Yankee with his old team, and Travis Hafner with his old team and fan base, Kevin Youkilis with Terry Francona.

~~ Yankees 11, Indians 6 ~~

Travis Hafner got some welcome home chants, then he hit a homerun, then the boos rained down. He said he kind of expected it because the fans in Cleveland are passionate. You could see that by how packed the stadium was. Both pitchers gave up 3 runs in the first inning. Kuroda however settled down and didn’t let anybody else score. Ubaldo Jimenez did not do so well. Of course Kuroda didn’t have to pitch to Robinson Cano.

Robinson Cano was hitting to the left and right, both ways, over the wall. Bringing awareness to the Indians and the people of Cleveland.

The game almost came apart in the 8th and 9th innings. Shawn Kelley gave up 3 runs and in the ninth, Joba came in and walked two. I was freaking, I told Kasey to talk to Joba, walks are going to be the death of me!

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

Game 7
Yankees 3-4 (0.429)

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 ~~ 😛

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 è tutto, dice la principessa ~~ 😛

Get Well Soon Joba Chamberlain

Since I am a girl who loves her Yankees, I of course follow all the Yankee players and the Yankee Beat Writer and YES Network, and Yankee PR twitter accounts. I have some sent to my phone. Today I received the following tweet:

Joba Chamberlain dislocated right ankle yesterday and had surgery last night. Cashman called it a significant injury.

— Jack Curry (@JackCurryYES) March 23, 2012

YIKES! My first thought was, “Surgery on a dislocated ankle? That’s gotta be a bad injury.” I then proceeded to click on the link for further details. This article on YES NETWORK.com says its an “open dislocation of his right ankle while playing with his son at a local kids’ center.” I had no idea what an open dislocation was, and before I read this article I also didn’t know his son was with him. All I knew was he had dislocated his ankle, he had surgery, and it happened on a trampoline. I don’t know if that last part is true. Even so, I knew from the very first tweet it was serious, just not how serious. Even Brian Cashman appeared ‘shaken’ when informing the media.

However, some people decided it was open season on Joba, calling him stupid for ‘jumping on a trampoline’, ‘what were you thinking fatty?’ Some of these may be paraphrasing, I put them in quotes because they are not my thoughts. Even if it was a stupid thing to do, it is certainly not the most stupid thing a person has done. Now that we know he was playing with his son, we should be even more sympathetic because a little boy saw his dad get hurt, a five year old has been traumatized and people are calling his dad stupid. We don’t even know how the accident happened and people are judging. It leads me to say irrational things like, “I hate people. I hope they DIAF.” Not everyone of course. Some people are tweeting good thoughts and well wishes to Joba, some are expressing their anger at people, one even tweeted:

My fellow #Yankees fans are really disappointing me…For the love of God, have a heart! He is human.a father.husband.then ATHLETE!@Joba_62

— Erica(@MsBaseballsy) March 23, 2012

Now that we know that this was a life threatening injury, he could still lose a limb because of the nature of the injury, his season is probably over and possibly his career, I hope everyone that was ridiculing and judging feels really good about themselves.

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.

Umpires and Red Sox: Who do I hate more? ~ June 9

~~ Red Sox 8, Yankees 3 ~~

After a 3 hour and 27 minute rain delay the game started. Sabathia versus Beckett. Another pitcher that likes to hit Yankee batters. He hit Jeter, then he hit Alex (in the hip!). Then a half inning later, CC hits Ortiz.

Here is why I hate umpires, nothing was said to any of the Red Sox pitchers, in any of these games. CC hits Ortiz and the umpire is right out there, warning the benches. Then Beckett hit Granderson, after the warning. Did anything happen to Beckett? Was he thrown out? NO. That’s because Umpires have complete control, they are the little GODS on the field and there is no accountability. They don’t get fined for bad calls, they don’t get fired, NOTHING.

CC pitched good, then in the seventh the Red Sox got 7 runs. I am sitting here just waiting for this game to end. It has been a rather disheartening day, Joba has a torn medial collateral ligament in his right elbow making Tommy John surgery and a 10- to 14-month absence imminent. Possibly out for the year, and just when I was starting to like him. 😦

Phil Hughes has reportedly been throwing at 92 MPH, but he will have to go to a rehab assignment before he can come back and pitch. 😦

Russell Martin’s back is still bothering him, but an MRI showed no damage. Still he has missed two games. I’m blaming Jon Lester for hitting him with a pitch, that started it all. I can do that, this is my blog.

Red Sox are still ugly.

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

Another shut out PLEASE? A series win will do ~ June 5

Sunday, June 5, 2011

~~ Yankees 5, Angels 3 ~~

There are 5 T.V.’s at Red Robin, which is where I was for the game, I wanted to treat Sarah and she loves Red Robin. Just 1 of the 5 television sets had the Yankee game. And where this T.V. was I could only see about a quarter of the screen. Which is why I didn’t notice the game even being on, I was following the game on my iPhone, wondering if the inning was over, when I spied a gray uniform and a familiar figure with his foot on first base and his mitt extended, waiting for the throw from second, that was about all I could see of the screen. Red Robin fails, that and they have a huge Robin that goes around the restaurant and high fives people. Let’s just say, at times our drinks were very interesting.

For a while I thought we would get another shut out from Bartolo Colon. Then in the 3rd inning Trumbo hit a home run. Still, Bartolo didn’t fall apart, kept the Angels to 3 runs and picked up his 4th win of the season. David Robertson got another strikeout for his charity, Joba pitched a scoreless inning. Kasey thinks Dave and Joba are spending too much time in the bull pen, they both seem to be in league with the blood pressure medicine people, they are raising our blood pressure with Dave walking two and Joba walking one before getting them out! Larry needs to have a serious heart to heart with them. At least Mo didn’t walk anyone, well he did let a couple hit the ball, but then he got the last batter to hit to Jeter who then threw to Mark for the double play. Inning over, ball game over, Yankees win.

Mark Teixeira hit home runs number 17 and 18 ($30 for his charity, a grand total of $270), as much as I really the Yankees to beat the Red Sox on Tuesday, I am kind of hoping they do it without Mark hitting a home run, just so I have time to catch up. Anyway, Mark brought in 3 runs bringing his RBI total to 41; Swisher hit the other home run bringing his RBI total to 24.

After starting the West Coast trip 0-2, with a series loss to the Mariners, the Yankees end it 6-3 and are still in first place.

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

It’s a sweep ~ June 1

~~ Yankees 4, Athletics 2 ~~

What’s the matter Yankees? Got no love for A.J.? Where’s the run support? O.K., I know they won and A.J. held them to 2 runs, but look at the scores for the other games! Today only 4 runs? Maybe I’m just being a little picky. Let’s look at A.J.’s line: 7 IP, 103 pitches, 59 strikes, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 walks and 5 strike outs, no wild pitches and no hit batters. And the two runs were from a two run home run. So not bad pitching. Chamberlain pitched the 8^th inning and Mariano the 9^th.

On the offensive side, Swisher hit a three run home run in the 4^th to put the Yankees ahead. A.J. and the others held the A’s to the 2 runs they had already scored. After the top of the 5^th I laid down, hot day and I’ve been sick, so I missed Joba turning a double play and I missed watching Mariano get his 14^th. I watched some video clips online afterwards but I honestly don’t remember what happened. All it proves is the Yankees don’t me to watch them for them to win the ball game. **sniff**

No matter, Yankees swept the A’s and watching their manager’s report, reporters ask some dumb questions.

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

Long long time ago ~ May 25

Sometime during this game, since I was not watching being that I had to work, I went up to one of my co-workers who is quite possibly a bigger Yankee fan then myself. By his own admission, he gets rather insufferable as the season goes along. Considering that he has to work in the same office as a die-hard Red Sox fan, I understand. I asked said co-worker if hunting Blue Jays was illegal. He grinned and replied, “Hunting anything in NYC is illegal.”

“Well I hope the Yankees don’t get in trouble then.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time. Remember when Dave Winfield got arrested?”

Yes, yes I do.

It was in 1983 at Exhibition Stadium, at the time the Blue Jays home stadium. The Yankees took the field for the bottom of the fifth inning, they had a 3-1 lead over the Blue Jays. As they finished their warm-up throws Dave Winfield was returning a ball to the ballboy when it hit a seagull, and killed it, in plain view of 36,684 fans. The ballboy got a towel and removed the bird and play resumed. Winfield was jeered by the centerfield spectators. Yankees won the game and headed to the clubhouse to pack up and go home.

They were met by plainclothes Toronto police officers with a warrant for Winfield’s arrest, charging him with cruelty to animals, they alleged he deliberately killed the bird. I guess seagulls are endangered in Canada. No they don’t want any of ours. Billy Martin was livid: “This is unbelievable!” he screamed. “They’ve come to arrest Winfield for killing that bird!”

Apparently too many spectators were traumatized by seeing the bird die. A freaking seagull! Canadians are weird, I should know, I’ve lived with one for 20+ years. Winfield was taken to the police station where he was booked, had to post $500 bail and promise to appear in court. He faced a stiff fine and possible jail time. Winfield convinced Toronto authorities that the death of the beloved fowl of Canada was a tragic accident and charges were dropped. While he was off the hook with the police, his teammates however, never let him forget it.

For the full story click here: FOWL BALL Dave Winfield, Bird Killer Chapter 170

~~ Yankees 7, Blue Jays 3 ~~

As I mentioned before, I didn’t get to see this game, I did watch the video clips on my phone. From the box score I can tell you that Jose Bautista was 1-3 with no runs and no RBI’s, making Freddy Garcia almost as good as CC Sabathia, almost. Not quite.

In the first inning a Blue Jay’s player hit a pop up, it was coming right to the pitcher’s mound, Garcia was there, but Mark was coming over to get so he moved off the mound, unfortunately Nunez was also coming over to get the ball and didn’t (apparently) didn’t hear Mark call it. Freddy ran into him, and since he is kind of a big guy, took Nunez out. As Paul O’Neill said, “Sometimes baseball isn’t pretty.”

But you know what is pretty? Martin gunning down Bautista at 2nd base, Mark and Andruw hitting the ball into the stands (Andruw did it twice!), Granderson knocking the ball over Bautista’s head and off the wall, Joba getting a batter to hit into a double play, Robinson Cano with that throw to first, Jeter starting off the game with hit number 2,976 and Mariano telling Kim Jones that 1,000 games means, “You are old.”

Paul O’Neill is pretty, and a win, a win is pretty. Next stop, Seattle. See you then.

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