Have faith in A.J. ~ But sometimes ….

~~Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Rangers 10, Yankees 3~~

As you may know, A.J. Burnett has been rather inconsistent this season. A person could go so far as to say the only thing you can predict about A.J. is that, …. he is unpredictable. When it was announced that A.J. would be pitching in Game 4, some people were upset. My opinion on the subject is, no matter what he has done, he is still a Yankee, I will still root for him and hope he does well. Face facts people, if A.J. fails, the team loses.

Some thought that if the Yankees were down, Girardi would put in C.C., but he didn’t, on Twitter it was applauded by many, they don’t like to see “panic” moves. There was also a big “A.J.” promotion, #GoAJ, #InAJweTrust and so on. Not everyone joined in of course, but a lot also changed their profile pictures or ‘Avi’ to a picture of A.J. or this badge that had “In AJ We Trust”. It seemed to be working since he was pitching pretty good, 2 runs in the 3rd, unfortunately the Yankees weren’t hitting well either, they had only 3 runs. Things started to fall apart in the 5th, when Teixeira got hurt. **True confession time** I wasn’t watching the game, I was waxing and I have this theory or maybe a tiny belief that the Yankees play better when I’m not watching.

The game was on upstairs so I could hear it and went upstairs when Robinson hit a home run, Ron Washington ran out to dispute it, the outfielder claimed ‘fan interference’, the umpire ruled it wasn’t (and video replay confirmed it) and play continued. Then Berkman hit a home run, Ron Washington ran out to dispute that one and it was overturned on review, it was just foul, by a half inch if that. After that I was following the game on Twitter, and saw the tweets “OH NO TEX” “Please don’t be hurt”, so I went upstairs and started watching and in the 6th inning things just got worse with a 3 run home run by that fat Bengie Molina, yes I know that is a mean thing to say about a person, but I am just that angry right now. A.J. got charged with 5 earned runs but he is really only responsible for 4 since before Molina he IBBd David Murphy and we know the pitcher doesn’t make that decision.

Thames came in to run for Mark, then he went into right field, (because we certainly can’t trust him at first base) and Swisher came in to play first. With Texas now up by two runs, and the hits started coming. But not for the Yankees, for the Rangers. Which is why the standing is 3-1 Texas.

On that note, I would like to point out that in a best of 7 series, one team has to win 4 games. That has not happened yet, and until it happens I will continue to have faith that my team is going to win the series. Just like I always have faith down to the last out during a game.

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

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
TEX (3-1)	0	0	2	0	0	3	2	0	3		10	13	0
NYY (1-3)	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0		3	7	0

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 30, 2010 ~ Someone please explain this to me

~~Yankees 11, Athletics 5~~

My co-worker manages a softball team. He had a game this night so he offered me his tickets. Kasey, D and I met there, I came from work and they came from home. I got there at about 5:30 or so. I took the subway, normally I take the MetroNorth train and I will never take the subway again, at least not if I am coming from Grand Central. Maybe from another part of the city. Ugh

While waiting for Kasey and D, I did some shopping. I was really looking for a Cervelli shirt for Kasey(which I found and bought), but then I saw some things I liked. I got the Alex Rodriguez pin because I was at the game when he hit #600 and the Retired Number pin because I like pins and this was the only number they had. I have never seen Munson play. at least I don’t remember ever seeing him. I have seen him on Yankee Classics and I hear he was a great Yankee and a good guy.

Here are my other pins, World Series, Derek Jeter Jersey Pin and a Red Dress for Go Red for Women’s Heart Health. This hat is my Rob Thomas hat.

So we were in our seats when the game started, Moseley had a pretty rough first inning, walked a few batters and had 3 earned runs. Between innings the people next to us showed up and right away started annoying me. First the man was asking me, “How did they score 3 runs?” Well maybe if you had been here . . . And they had brought their baby with them, probably about 2 years old and we were sitting at the top of the stadium, Kasey and I were looking at this little girl and expecting her to tumble down the stairs and any moment, since the man and woman were more interested in talking to their friends and drinking their beer then watching her. And every time something happened they were asking me, “What happened? Why was that a home run?”

Why would you bring a child that age to a game, not get a seat for said child, and sit in the grandstand? She did not understand what was going on, was not interested in what was happening and just wanted to run around. Not a safe thing to do where we were sitting.

As for the game, it was a blowout, Teixeira, Cano and Thames hit home runs, Swisher hit a couple of doubles, and there is a cool picture of him that goes up on the view screen, he’s in a tux with cool shades with “Swish-a-licous!” In 4-⅓ innings Dustin gave up 4 runs, then Javier came in and pitched the rest of the 4-⅔ innings giving up one home run in the 8th inning. Since the Yankees were up by 7 runs, the crowd was kind of like “Eh”. Interestingly, Javier and Dustin ended the game with identical ERA’s. The crowd was quiet, it wasn’t a hushed, edge of your seat quiet, more like a “this game is over and we’re bored hush”. Not surprising, considering the A’s were playing like the season is already over.

In rout of A’s, Yanks mar Cahill’s surge

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

Tuesday, August 24, 2010 ~ Who’s Stomping Who Now?

~~Yankees 11, Blue Jays 5~~

After a game, I usually go to the Yankees site and read all the articles about the game, just something I do. I try not to read the comments after the article, I usually end up severely mad at people I don’t know. The comments after last nights game were no exception, I’ve pasted some of them below along with my comments to them, that I didn’t make because I don’t really see the point. Haters don’t want to be told they are haters and it is best not to feed trolls.

ole zeppy’s gonna have a good game today. so far he has been good bad good bad and i guess today will be good. we see. prediction 6-2 jays 🙂

Shouldn’t have crowed about this, now you have to eat crow.

nova is a whiny b*tch sit down yankees were gona sweep you

Nova is whiny? Bautista is the one who started complaining about the pitch, Nova stood his ground. And Jays are going to sweep the Yankees? Nope, not happening.

Too much… Hockey boy? Still living in Canada? Accusations of steroid use? The Jays have had the Ysnkees number all year and out come the school boy insults. Who can’t take the heat? If your team was that good then you should be stomping this team that is ‘next to last in the standings’ but you are not. Don’t you agree “World Series Champions”? Factis that the Yanks cannot match the Jays this year head to head. Yankee Stadium, Rogers Center, we beat you at your house and at ours. Yankee fans are the worst. Now Bosox Fans!!! Those are ball fans. 🙂

We are that good, did you never hear, on any given day, the worst team in baseball can beat the best team in baseball, Yankees are “World Series Champions”, and despite the fact we haven’t won any series against the Jays, we are still tied for first and you are in 4th place.

Yankees fans dont seem to take losses too well. Better get used to it. It’s going to happen all the time at the Rogers Center!

Yeah, I guess we don’t, we’re not used to it. Just like you don’t handle winning without turning into gloating fanatics thinking you have a chance at the post-season. And those balls flying into the stands today? They were off the Yankee bats.

They were also commenting about steroids, ‘petite (sic) on roids’, “Um no he wasn’t”, making it sound like he (and others) were on them for years. And when I corrected his spelling and said, “He was never on steroids.” I get a snarky response back, ‘i don’t care how its spelled (because you have no respect) and yes he was’ (no he wasn’t, check your facts), he admitted to receiving 2 shots of HGH and when he got them it wasn’t a banned substance. This is why I shouldn’t read the comments. Just make me mad and then I write blog posts like this one. So instead of talking about how great Moseley pitched, 2 runs in 6 innings, compared to how sloppy Gaudin pitched, 3 runs in 2 innings or how Kerry Wood came in and took care of the Blue Jays 1, 2, 3, I’m on a rant.

And it was a thrilling game, Yankees hit 5 home-runs starting with Mark Teixeira, Marcus Thames and Jorge Posada in the third inning and Curtis Granderson and Derek Jeter in the fifth. 8 of the runs were off of home runs. Can you say “Total Domination”? Gotta go now, gotta think of what to say for my next blog post.

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

Wednesday, August 11, 2010 ~ Yes the Yankees DO Like to Come From Behind

~~Yankees 7, Rangers 6~~

Wednesday night is church, I don’t miss for baseball games. I do take my phone however 😉 Which is how I knew the Rangers scored a run in the first inning. When I got home the score was 3-1 Rangers and I decided not to turn on the T.V. I had a bad fan moment and said, “The Yankees can lose without me.” 😦

While doing other stuff online, which I can’t remember now what I was doing, I had Gameday on, the score crept up to 6-1. Javier was disappointing me and a lot of people. I tried to stay calm, not watching the game helped, I least I wasn’t seeing the melt-down.

Then slowly the Yankees began to gain ground, Sergio Mitre pitched to end of the 6th without giving up a run, 6-2. Kerry Wood pitched 2 shutout innings and the score was now Rangers 6, Yankees 5, thanks in part to a home run by Marcus Thames, who was batting in Mark Teixeira’s spot.

The T.V. was turned on for the 9th inning, Marcus Thames brought run #7 across the plate. Then Mo came in for the save, and the first hit by Elvis Andrus was a triple. So now the tying run was on third. Please forgive me Mo. I was preparing myself for extra innings, I might have even said some things to my T.V. I should not have doubted Mo, give up a save two days in a row? Even non-Yankee fans don’t believe that’s possible.

So after the triple, there was a fly ball to right field and Austin Kearns made a “shoe-string” catch (no idea what that means), next batter bounced the ball to Mo. And he did his lazy look to third base, throw to Swisher at first …. (O.K., top of the ninth, Granderson ran for Berkman, so bottom of the ninth, Granderson was put in center field, Gardner was moved to left field, Kearns was moved to right field, the only place left for Swish was first base) 2nd out. Then the next batter grounded out to 3rd base.

Sometimes I think Mo likes to toy with people. Time: 3:45, Attendance: 48,676. Compiled by MLB Advanced Media

~~and that’s all~~ she wrote

8)

Thursday, July 29, 2010 ~ Seven for Seven

~~Yankees 11, Indians 4~~

No not 7&7, I’m not drinking, 7 for 7, as in the Yankees scored 7 runs in the 7th inning. It started with a home run by Robbie, and with 2 outs. That seemed to wake things up and the Yankees went on to score 7 runs in the inning.

In total, the Indians walked Yankees batters 12 times and used 7 pitchers, the last one a position player not a pitcher, and he pitched a scoreless inning. He even struck out Swisher. Yea, my sweet Nicky♡ whiffed. He got some teasing about it. Alex didn’t get #600, but he did get 3 RBI, bringing his total to 85. Gardner got his 29th stolen base of the season.

Dustin Moseley started the game, he had a rocky 1st inning throwing 31 pitches and giving up a run. If I remember correctly, it from the bases being loaded, a couple walks, so 1 run was actually not bad. In all he pitched 6 innings and that was the only run he gave up. Dave pitched a no hit 7th inning. After the Yankees had scored 7 bring the score to 9-1. Then 2 more runs in the 8th brought the total to 11-1.

Chan Ho Park pitched the 8th inning, he cannot pitch 2 inning in the same game, in the 9th inning he walked 3 batters, and they scored 3 runs. Marcus Thames cannot play 3rd base. Fortunately the Yankees were 10 runs ahead.

~~and that’s all~~ she wrote

7/11 NY Yankees 8 @ Seattle Mariners 2 ~ Home Run Derby, All-Star, Then Home

The Yankees jumped out early scoring all 8 runs by the 6th inning. So the Mariners may have King Felix, but they don’t have much else. CC Sabathia was the starting pitcher, then Gaudin in the 8th and Moseley in the 9th. CC gave up a run in the 6th and Moseley in the 9th. Marcus Thames hit a 2 run home run in the 5th inning. He was DH which is a relief since he’s not the best fielder.

Another series win by the Yankees.

Just finished watching the Home Run Derby, I only watched it because Nick Swisher was competing. As soon as he was eliminated I turned the channel. It was rather boring I thought.

Tomorrow is the All-Star Game. Winner determines home field advantage in the World Series. The American League has won the last 12 years and are looking for #13. I plan on watching, stay tuned.

~~and that’s all~~ she wrote

7/4 NY Yankees 7 vs Toronto Blue Jays 6 ~ Pie? Yes pie time.

I can’t think of what to say, this is what happens when I delay my posting. The reason I didn’t blog right away was I was moving my posts from MLB.com to here. I had to do it one post at a time since I couldn’t figure how to transfer the posts. Means I lost the comments, but then there weren’t that many anyway. I sometimes feel like I’m blogging to myself.

This was one of those tight close games that kept you on the edge of your seat. The announcers kept talking about the sun, how the sun was giving Toronto trouble. I am not sure, but I think they have sun in Toronto, I mean, I don’t think customs keeps it out.

Ninth inning we were up by 1 run, Mo comes in, and gives up a run. He was rather upset with himself. So, on to extra innings. D-Rob comes in with a clean inning, then with Cano on 2nd and two outs, Pena coming up to bat, I was concerned, then I saw Marcus Thames coming out of the dug out. I was relieved, I don’t like seeing him in left field, actually in any field, but at bat …. I don’t worry. Walk off win for the Yankees.

~~and that’s all~~ she wrote

5/19 NY Yankees 6 vs Tampa Bay Rays 10

If I had blogged yesterday the title would have been 5/18 NY Yankees 6 vs Boston Red Sox 7, it was as painful a game as the game before, but with no happy ending for the Yankees or their fans. I had decided to be like Mariano, not in terms of pitching, I can’t pitch to save my life, and I know this because I pitched in high school. I was awful. I had decided to ‘close the door’ on this game and look forward to the next game. It is a little harder to do that two games in a row.

As bad as this score looks, it was much worse the beginning of the 9th inning. Yankees scored 4 runs in the 9th inning. It was an exciting rally, but it didn’t last long enough.

To add injury to insult, Posada has a fracture on the bottom of his foot. Since I don’t want to talk about the game, which I missed since I was at church, I will just run down the list of injuries.

Aceves, Alfredo (P) ~ 15-day DL ~ TBD ~ Lower back discomfort ~ Placed on DL May 12.
Granderson, Curtis (CF) ~ 15-day DL ~ Possibly late May ~ Grade 2 strain of left groin .
Johnson, Nick (1B) ~ 15-day DL ~ August ~ Inflamed tendon in wrist ~ Surgery May 18.
Posada, Jorge (C) ~ 15-day DL ~ June 20 ~ Right foot injury ~ Received MRI on May 19
Swisher, Nick (RF)(♥) ~ Day-to-day ~ TBD ~ Left bicep strain ~ Missed 4th straight game 5/19

So we have 5 players out and Marcus Thames stepped on a bat and turned his ankle. Nothing broken. Next game is against the Rays, then Yankees play the Mets. Thank goodness.

~~and that’s all~~ she wrote

5/17 NY Yankees 11 vs Boston Red Sox 9

If this was not the best game I have watched so far this season, it was certainly the most exciting. After being up by 5 runs, the Yankees lost the lead in the eighth inning. No I am not kidding. I watched as the Red Sox chipped away at our lead, 1 run in the fifth, 3 runs in the 6th to Yankees 1 run, 1 run in the seventh, Yankees were still ahead by 1 run, then in the ninth inning the unthinkable happened, someone gave up a 3-run home run. I was sick, I was heartbroken, I was ready to turn off the T.V., blaming myself for watching (see last post). It was painful. I looked at Nicky (my sweet Nicky, who is out with a bicep strain) looking so sad in the dugout, not being able to play and help his team. 

Boston is thinking they have won the game, Papelbon came in for the ninth inning, one out, Gardner comes up, gets on base, I don’t remember if it was a walk or a hit, I think it was a hit, then Alex comes up, hits a home run to tie up the game, Boston starts thinking they would have to keep playing, then Frankie gets hit by Papelbon, and with two outs,  Marcus Thames comes through with a HOME RUN! I was jumping and screaming and tweeting! It was so so sweet, all the boys came running out of the dugout, made sure the path was clear to home plate, then proceeded to jump all over him, and was there pie? Well of course there was! Yes I know, this is Mark Teixeira, its the only pie picture I could find.

~~and that’s all~~ she wrote