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.

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Perfect day for baseball

Tuesday was the perfect day for baseball, sun was shining, temperature was that nice but not to hot and there I was, soaking up the glow from my computer terminal. Until the e-mail popped up, “Nice day for a baseball game, want to go?”

~~ Yankees 8, Blue Jays 4 ~~

We met up in ‘Little Cuba’, I had to walk the last 10 blocks because of mechanical problems on the train, so I got there a little annoyed, a little hot and very thirsty. Ready to see some baseball, G didn’t have tickets, but he had looked online and said there were tons of tickets of available. Apparently there was a rush on tickets at the box office, since the only tickets available were on the main level near the bleachers in the sun.

So we left, we didn’t have to go far to find someone with tickets for sale and G handed over the cash, as we walked back I heard the score. “We have to get in there G! They need you!” In we came in, a little late that’s true, when we got to the bleachers to sit the ball came whistling into monument park. 3-run home run by Cano.

But it was too hot in bleachers so we walked around and ended up behind home plate for the end of the game. Finally I got to see Mariano pitch. Perfect ending to a perfect day for baseball.

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

Way Back Wednesday

Way Back Wednesday is a feature FanCred does, I’ve mentioned them here before, click the tag to see the post. The theme for today is “Your favorite sports moment at your favorite sports venue”. This picture only partially fits, O.K., not at all since these are from the old Yankee Stadium and I go to the new Stadium. I never liked the old Stadium and yes I know Yankee fans see that as heresy. Deal with it.

These are tickets from last year, the game was rained out and I couldn’t go to the make-up game. I traded them in for this Saturday’s game, Sylvia will be there and it looks to be a fun time. I was smart this time and scanned them before I traded them in.

Elston Howard was the first African American player on the Yankees. He made his debut on April 14, 1955 and played most of his career for the Yankees. In his last year he was traded to the Red Sox but then came back to the Yankees as a coach. His number (32) was retired in 1984. He won the MVP award in 1963, the Babe Ruth award in 1958, has two gold gloves, World Series Champion 4 times and played in 12 All-star games. No I never saw him play, how old do you think I am? I did watch a Yankeeography about him.

November 1, 2001 Scott Brosius hit a home run to tie game 5 of the World Series. It was a great moment, unfortunately the Yankees lost that World Series to the Diamondbacks, making them one of the teams that was able to take advantage of a human moment by Mariano Rivera. I didn’t see Scott Brosius play either, that was during my non-baseball years. I don’t know if there is a Yankeeography about him.

That’s it for my way-back Wednesday.

Marc Anthony sings God Bless America and people are dumb

At the All-Star game Marc Anthony sang “God Bless America”. Probably during the 7th inning stretch, I don’t know since I was watching at a bar with friends and wasn’t really paying attention to anything but the game. I didn’t know he sang it until I read about the racist backlash on twitter. Since then I have watched the below video. I would LOVE for the Yankees to get a tape of this and play it at Yankees Stadium every 7th inning. Pretty hot ……… Where was I?

Oh yes, racist backlash on twitter, specifically people being outraged that a Mexican was singing AMERICA’S SONG at AMERICA’s PASTIME. For more WTF tweets check out Public Shaming. My only complaint is the title refers to baseball fans being super angry which could give some people the impression that all baseball fans are racist, which isn’t true.

Let me think about this, suppose Marc Anthony is Mexican (he’s not), isn’t Mexico in North America? No, it’s in Central America, isn’t that still America? So technically he would be an American if he was Mexican, except he’s not, he was born in NYC. His reply to these stupid comments was, “There’s no one more New York than me. I was honored to be asked to sing.” But he’s of Puerto Rican descent, which doesn’t change anything, even if he had been born in Puerto Rico he would still be considered a citizen of the U.S.

Did these people forget that the U.S. is a country of immigrants? “God Bless America” was written by Irving Berlin, born Israel (or Isadore) Baline who immigrated with his family to New York from Temun Russia in 1888. And America’s game? The Home Run Derby was won by Yoenis Céspedes who is from Cuba, who learned to play baseball in Cuba. The MVP of the All Star Game was Mariano Rivera, who besides being the greatest relief pitcher and closer in baseball is beloved and respected by most people. I’ve even had Red Sox fans (who hate the Yankees) tell me, “Even Red Sox fans respect Mariano”. Mariano Rivera is from Panama, he learned to play baseball in Panama. Cause guess what? Baseball is played in other countries, some close like Cuba and Panama, some far away like Taiwan and Korea.

By the way, this post was written by an American of Spanish descent.

King Felix versus David Phelps

A discussion on the last game in Seattle, King Felix and his court, turkey legs, bases loaded jams and strike-outs.

~~ Yankees 2, Mariners 1 ~~

About the turkey legs, first I have to tell you about the court. There is a section in the ball park where all the King Felix fans sit and they have these yellow squares of paper with “K” on them. Whenever Felix pitches a chef comes out to that section with a turkey leg and people take bites out of it. Yes I’m serious.

First inning with the bases loaded, Ichiro strikes out and makes the 3rd out.

My notes: Gardner on fire, 7 game hitting streak, always a threat to run, he steals second.
Hafner walks.
Wells walks. Bases loaded ~ two outs, Ichiro up. King Felix struggling with his control. Felix strikes out Ichiro. Yankees leave bases loaded.

David Phelps picks off Bay at first.

Jayson Nix on first (5 game hitting streak), Nix steals second (Shoppach is worse than Stewart? Who would have thunk it?)
Stewart with a bunt base hit, Jayson Nix on third.
Gardner with a single to center field, Nix scores.
Robinson Cano GIDP.

Sorry I got distracted, it is now 1-1 and the top of the third. Teixeira is up. Now he’s out.

David Phelps has walked three batters so far. That’s a batter per inning.
Double play ends the inning.

NYY 1, SEA 1

4th Inning:
1-2-3 inning for Hernandez and David Phelps

5th Inning
Gardner with a double (8th hit in this series, 8-15), left on base.

Bottom of the 5th:
Broken bat ~ Nix to Teixeira, 1 out
Hard hit to Cano, 2 outs
Strike out. David’s fourth of the game.

Sixth inning:
Vernon Wells reaches on a throwing error by shortstop Brendan Ryan. And he is left there.

Bottom of the sixth:
Boone Logan warming in the pen, Phelps at 93 pitches, Strike-out, 1 out
Lines out to Ichiro, 2 outs
Strike-out. 3 outs. Six strike outs for David Phelps.

Seventh inning:
Felix with 7 strikeouts.

Side-note: O’s 10, TB 7

Boone Logan in for David Phelps
Ichiro drops it, in foul territory. (Love you, Raul ♡ , now be a good boy and swing and miss)
Shoppach grounds into a 5-3 out at first.
Yowzer, 2 strike-outs for Logan.

Charlie Furbush in for Felix Hernandez
Eighth inning:
Cano hit by pitch. Advances to second on a wild pitch.
3rd strikeout for Mark Teixeira. Good job swinging at a ball Mark. 😦
Hafner pops out in foul territory.
Wells in now, come on baby! Just put it in play no out, just put it in play no out, just put it in play no out, just put it in play no out, just put it in play no out, just put it in play no out, just put it in play outs.

David Robertson in for Logan
Ken (or AL) jinxed them. Lead-off double for Mariners.
Sacrifice bunt. Runner on 3rd. 1 out
Strike-out Jason Bay. Hat trick for Bay? Huh? 2 outs.
Swing and a miss, freakin’ LOVE D-Rob. David “H” Robertson. The H is for Houdini or Heart-attack, whichever you prefer.

Ninth inning:
Yoervis Medina in for Seattle.
Ichiro walks. And he takes great care with his bat.
Nix sacrifice bunt, Ichiro to second.
Chris Stewart with a big 2-out hit, throw is not in time, Ichiro scores, Stewart fist pumps when he gets to second. Yankees in the lead.
Oliver Perez in for Seattle, Gardner up at bat. He has had a great afternoon, 3 for 4. Hit a home run Gardy! I guess I have to settle for a base hit. Runners on the corners, Robbie is up. Home run Robbie! And he walks. Mark is up now. Strikes out, golden sombrero for Tex. 3 outs.

Bottom of the ninth:
Mariano Rivera in for the Yankees
Lead off walk
Double play (Mark is soooo good, can you say ‘Gold Glove’?
Walk to Raul (Mo has seen his late game power)
Base hit. Who do these Mariners think they are? Getting hits against Mo.
Pop-out to left field. Yankees win 2-1.

Since the game was tied until the ninth inning, neither starting pitcher gets the win.
Pitching Decisions
Winning Pitcher
David Robertson

Losing Pitcher
Yoervis Medina

Save
Mariano Rivera – 23 SV

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

Game 63
Yankees 37-26 (0.587)

Double header

Monday originally was a day off for the Yankees. The weather had other ideas and rained out two games in April, therefore on Monday the Yankees played a double-header to make up the games. It was a single admission double header which means the fans in Cleveland got to see two games for the price of one.

First game

~~ Indians 1, Yankees 0 ~~

Second game

~~ Yankees 7, Indians 0 ~~

It’s not unusual for teams to split a double header. What I’m going to talk about is the pitching. David Phelps came up to the big leagues April 2012 as a reliever, as the season wore on he showed he had durability, lasting 4 or 5 innings in long relief and made a few starts. This year, in April he was also pitching in relief until our pitchers started dropping like flies. Then he was put in the rotation, he had a rocky first start, his start on this Monday was not rocky at all. The only run was a home run and if the Yankees HAD GOTTEN THEIR STUFF TOGETHER and actually scored some runs, he would have gotten the win since the bullpen didn’t give up any runs either. Phelps line: 6.2IP, 4H, 1R, 5BB, 7SO, 4.33ERA

March 20 the Yankees played the Red Sox in Spring Training. I looked at the line-up and said, “Who the hell is Vidal Nuno?” He pitched 5 scoreless innings that game. But I didn’t really expect to see him in the regular season. Absolutely he would not be starting any REAL games. So far he’s pitched 8 scoreless innings in the regular season. Monday he was the starting pitcher in the second game, a game that counts. Now I know who Vidal Nuno is. Nuno’s line: 5.0IP, 3H, 0R, 3BB, 3SO, 0.00ERA.

Adam Warren came into finish the game, his line: 4.0IP, 2H, 0R, 4SO, 1.45ERA. Nuno got his first big league win, and Warren got his first save of the season.

Between the two games the Indians gave Mariano Rivera a framed gold record of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”.

~~ Yankees 4, Mariners 3 ~~

Today’s game I really thought the Mariners were going to win, they were ahead the whole game and Felix was pitching and he usually shuts down the bats. Which he did today until he left the game after 6 innings. CC also left after 6 but the Yankee bullpen is better than the Mariners. Also our pitchers know to NOT stand in front of first base when there is a base runner so your infield can get him out properly. In another example of a groan worthy headline, Robinson Cano tied the game and the MLB headline reads: “After aces exit, Yanks Rob a win.”

In other baseball news: Shane Victorino now knows where the visitors bullpen wall at Fenway is, and Bryce Harper knows where the right-field wall at Dodger stadium is. Guys, the outfield does not go on forever, the wall is hard and you may be super ball players but you are not superheroes.

And one last thing before I go, Yankees still in first place.

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

Game 39
Yankees 25-14 (0.641)

Today was a fun day in the city

Kasey finally made it to the city and we had a blast, eating chicken with hot garlic sauce, going to get tea in SoHo and what else? Oh, baseball.

~~ Yankees 3, Blue Jays 2 ~~

Kasey checked first and said that we needed to find a bar to watch the game, cause the Yankees were behind. So we started walking and looking, actually she did all the looking since I didn’t have my glasses on. By the time we found someplace it was 8th inning and the Yankees were ahead. We got to watch Mo pitch.

Kasey said that Sarah has decided to ‘like’ Overbay until Curtis gets back. She was concerned that it might not be all right to continue to like him after Curtis returns, Kasey said, “It’s fine, you can have more than one ballplayer.” I’ve kind of lost track of how many baseball players are on my ‘like’ list. In other news around baseball, the Tigers swept the Braves, 10-0, 7-4 and 8-3. It’s kind of sweet. And in a bizarre turn of events in Chicago, On his off day, Rays RHP Jeremy Hellickson was ejected after the seventh inning after he yelled at home plate umpire Tom Hallion from the dugout.

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

Game 24
Yankees 15-9 (0.624)

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 è tutto, dice la principessa ~~ 😛

Game 19
Yankees 11-8 (0.579)

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

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

Still don’t know why they call him Pronk

C.C. was back on the mound today, gave up two runs in the first inning and immediately everyone lost their minds! Except for me I was doing laundry.

~~ Yankees 4, D-backs 3 ~~

After seeing Sarah off on the train, I planned to come home and do laundry, then watch the game in the evening. Instead I took a nap, I felt really good after, but I still had laundry to do. I come home to the Diamondbacks with a lead. Then in the seventh inning the lead started to unravel, with the bases loaded, their pitcher, Wade Miley, walked Jayson Nix which brought in Ben Francisco. It was either his pitch count or the fact that he walked Nix on 5 pitches that prompted the manager to replace him. The next pitcher had to face Brett Gardner, who brought in the next two runners tying the game at 3.

Then in the bottom of the eighth inning Travis Hafner pitch hit for Francisco and he slammed it over the fence. This prompted the D-Backs announcer to say they got ‘pronked’, and I still don’t know what that means or why he’s called that.

That’s all except for, Kevin Youkilis got hit by pitch, go figure.

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

Game 13
Yankees 8-5 (0.615)