Yankees vs. Red Sox

Going to Yankees vs. Red Sox at Fenway is on my sports bucket list. I’ve reached the point where I am sure it’ll never happen. So the next best thing is Yankees vs. Red Sox at Prof Thom’s “the Boston Bar” in New York City. 🌃

As I sit here in my jean jacket and red knit hat, with my Yankee bling carefully hidden under my jacket, my hope was I would jinx the Sox. It does not seem to be working. 

The crowd doesn’t seem to be particularly interested in the game. In fact I might not be the only Yankee fan here. Castro got a base hit, there was clapping, the bartender walked to the other end of the bar shaking his head. I feel sorry for him. There is a couple at the bar rooting for the Sox but overall it’s pretty quiet. I’m rather disappointed.

Finally I work up the courage to talk the bartender. I’m afraid he’ll be able to tell I’m not a Sox fan, bartenders are able to suss these things out. He replies to my comments: “Well most of our customers are Boston fans (I knew that) so when the Sox are in town they are at the game.” This is me with my blank face that means “Yes of course.” or “I am an idiot.” I know what I have to do, I have to come back when the Yankees are at Fenway. I don my sunglasses and casually walk out.

Oh and my jinx worked – in the opposite direction. Boston won 5-4.

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My first game of 2015

And it was a doozy! 19 innings, 6:49 time. Rather brutal for the time and the temp, it was hella cold. Also my phone died and I got a little crazy on twitter which means I have to reinstall my ‘no twitter during baseball games’ policy. That means more blog posts.

~~ Red Sox 6, Yankees 5 ~~

Every April, as I am freezing in stands I say, I am never going to an April game again. In fact this year I didn’t even look at the prices of opening day tickets, but then I downloaded this app “Seat Geek” and noticed Yankees vs Boston, tickets available! So I bought a ticket. Then I told my boss and he bought a ticket too, (DAMMIT) so then I bought a ticket for Saturday so I would have a game without him. Turned out to be unnecessary since he decided the weather was too crummy and he was getting a cold so he didn’t go.

So there I was feeling like a jerk after getting scolded and my phone dying and the Red Sox up by a run. The rest of this post is compiled from my notes, scribbled on my ticket and my memories. I was not happy the Sox were winning, but I was so cold and I wanted to go home, and Headley hits a home run. I was elated “Headley hits a home run! Yay oh wait its the ninth inning and he just tied it up. Extra innings on a cold Friday night” then I wasn’t. I tied my blanket around my neck and wore it like a cape.

The score was now 3-3, I had already moved and where I was now sitting I could hear someone cheering the Red Sox vigorously and booing the Yankees, in particular Alex “STEROIDS STEROIDS”, I eventually looked at him, older man wearing a Mets hat. Huh. And say all you want about apathetic Yankee fans, the boos for David Ortiz never diminished no matter how many at bats he had. The score stayed tied until the 16th inning.

By this time I was walking around, I was standing behind the seats so I saw David Ortiz -steroids- hit a go ahead home run. I left the seats and went into the great hall. “It’s over now.” I watched the bottom of the 16th on the big screen in great hall, that’s where I saw Mark Teixeira hit a home run to tie the game, again.

This whole time I kept saying I’m going to leave … first it was, midnight, then … at the end of this inning. The 18th inning the Red Sox scored another run, and the Yankees tied again. Finally in the 19th the Red Sox scored and the Yankees didn’t tie it up. I saw a tweet that Pedroia threatened to fine anyone that talked to the media.

Next year, no April games. Promise. Maybe.

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

Thoughts

Whenever I see a Yankee hat I wonder “Are they really a Yankee fan or are they just wearing the hat for a fashion statement?” It is the best known brand symbol in the world and maybe some people think, since they are in NY they should identify themselves as Yankee fans, even if they are not. After all, the hats can be found pretty cheap if you know where to look.

Before you think I am an arrogant Yankee fan, I asked some friends of mine who live in London, as in, they have lived in the UK all their life, why most people from England are either Yankee fans or Red Sox fans, and he told me, Those are the only two teams I know. Sort of proves my point about how well known the Yankee logo is known.

No sweep for the Red Sox

The old guys come through. A couple of home runs by guys who you don’t expect to hit home runs.

~~ Yankees 4, Red Sox 2 ~~

Andy Pettitte came through for us holding the Red Sox to one run. His numbers for this game were: 8IP, 8H, 1ER, 1BB, 3SO. He got 3 double plays, 9 ground-outs and 6 fly-outs. He threw 94 pitches, 64 of them were strikes. Mariano came in and got his first save of 2013. He walked one, got one out, then a double, then a ground out with the Sox scoring, then a strike and out and a victory. So we lost the series but didn’t get swept.

Andy Pettitte pitching like a BOSS y’all.

— ♦B Foxx ❤⚾❤ (@UES_Bella) April 5, 2013

Brett Gardner and Frankie Cervelli got home runs. Cervelli also tagged Victorino out at home when he tried to run home on a passed ball. oh wait, it was ruled a wild pitch. Cervelli went back to get it kind of looked to third, but seemed to get distracted then saw Victorino running in. Everyone seemed to playing better today, it seems the team is getting used to each other and getting into the rhythm of playing. This is why I wasn’t really worried. However tomorrow is a day game, in Detroit. Who made up this schedule?

Game 3
Yankees 1-2

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

Game 2 in the Bronx

The Yankees are not going to win 162 games this year, they will have to settle for 160 at this point.

~~ Red Sox 7, Yankees 4 ~~

It is never a good thing when your starter starts hitting batters, especially when he does it twice in one inning and walks a batter in between. Kuroda got hit on the hand, suffered a bruised middle finger. He tried to stay in but with his loss of control Girardi took him out and put in Cody Eppley who managed to get the next batter to ground into a double play. You can look up which batter hit him, I off to buy supplies to make another doll for my Red Sox collection and sharp pins.

Cody Eppley then proceeded to give up 4 runs in the next inning. His ERA is now old enough to drink in every state in the Union. He and Kuroda need to do some stellar pitching to bring it down to normal levels. Kuroda I think can do it, Eppley has the problem that as a reliever he doesn’t pitch a lot of innings.

Adam Warren saved the bullpen, came in as a reliever and pitched 5 and 1/3 innings. 5 hits, 1 run, 1 walk and 4 strike outs. He came through for the Yankees in a big way as did Hafner (why is he called Pronk?) and Wells. Both hit home runs so even though the Yankees lost, it wasn’t a totally embarrassing loss.

Tomorrow night is the last game in the series. Here’s hoping we don’t get swept.

Game 2
Yankees 0-2

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

Opening day, the reality

~~ Red Sox 8, Yankees 2 ~~

The reality is I didn’t get tickets. I kept looking, up until yesterday and the lowest they got was $75 and I just couldn’t swing it. So I made plans to meet with a couple friends to eat and drink and watch the game. So we had fun, the place was a sports bar/restaurant on the Westside called “Blondies”, which actually had a pretty good set up for watching games, a divided room, one side a bar with TV’s and the other side tables and chairs, also with TV’s on every wall. The food was pretty good too.

The game was pretty horrible, and I then had to read all the “Yankee fans are terrible! They leave before the end of the game, that never happens anywhere else!” The game and the downpour at the end of the game made me glad I wasn’t there to get cold and soaked. Next game is Wednedsay, I believe in Hiroki.

Game 1
Yankees 0-1

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

More free baseball

By now we all know the Yankees have won the division and the next game played will be in the Playoffs, the ALDS. However I didn’t blog about the game I went to Tuesday which once again was extra innings.

~~ Yankees 4, Red Sox 3 ~~

Since starting going to games in 2009, I don’t think I was ever at an extra innings game. There were some games that I hoped went to extra innings, but it didn’t happen. Then the Saturday game against the A’s was extra innings, and then the next game I went to, yesterday also went to extra innings. I got the tickets because I saw the commercial for donating sock and thought, there is no way there are tickets available, when I saw there were tickets I impulsively bought one.

First of all, I planned to go straight from work but with how yucky the weather was I decided to go home and get a heavier jacket, it turned out to be a good decision. Then when I got to the stadium I got a complimentary bottle of chocolate milk, not wanting to drink it right away I stuck it in my pocket. Since I had switched jackets, it wasn’t noticeable and I walked into the stadium with it.

One of the reasons I like going by myself is that if I want to walk around I can do it without feeling like I am abandoning whoever I came with. It had been raining and the seats I had were just at the edge of the roof so my seat was a little wet, which meant the seat that is attached to me also got wet, so I walked around hoping it would dry. Also, it wasn’t really raining, it was misty and the wind was blowing the water around, being under the roof wasn’t helping. Another reason I was walking around was I wasn’t very happy with how the game was going. The Red Sox were ahead by 1 run when Soriano gave up a home run in the 9th to first batter he saw, James Loney. I was standing behind the seats on the third level when that happened and I thought about going down to the great hall just so I could run out quick, but I just stayed there, the mist was turning into rain when Ibanez hit a home run, he was the second batter Andrew Bailey faced which is why we were now tied and going into extra innings. I went into the ladies room and grabbed a bunch of paper towels. Then I found a section in the 300 seats without security walked in, wiped off the seat and sat down. There I sat through the 10th, 11th, Francisco Cervelli came into the game in the 11th and Twitter started buzzing with the possibility that “Frankie’s going to win this.” It was sarcasm I’m sure, at least for some people. Derek Lowe had replaced Soriano who after giving up the home run pitch the rest of the inning and the next scoreless. Derek Lowe was also pitching scoreless innings. Bottom of the twelfth with two outs, Frankie came up to bat, the couple in front of me stood up and clapped, I sat there and thought of the Frankie of old, the one who would scorch a hit through the infield and the ball seemed to have feet as it ran all the way to the wall. He walked. I couldn’t believe it, but there it was, a walk issued to Francisco Cervelli, who has not played in the bigs all year. Then Curtis walks. Then Raul Ibanez comes up to bat, and gets the hit and I was jumping up and down screaming, “RUN FRANKIE!”

Which I didn’t need to do, because he definitely knows how to run. But it felt good, and he listened.

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

The plan for today is ….

Or actually what I hope happens today is the Yankees win (of course!) and Texas wins, and Baltimore loses.

We shall see if that actually happens. The Yankees don’t have to do an exact repeat of last night, Andy just need to be dominant, and Ricky needs to not be good.

No such thing as a sure thing in baseball

~~ Red Sox 7, Yankees 4 ~~

With Nova pitching versus Lackey, I was sure we’d win it. Then when the Yankees jumped ahead with 3 runs, I was doubly sure the Yankees would win. Even when they went ahead in the 7th, I was still sure Yanks would win, it was only one run and in the bottom of the 7th the Yankees tied it up. So no problem right? RIGHT?

Seven innings later that bad boy Jacoby hits a 3 run home run off Scott Proctor. I don’t know why he was pitching.

Once again there were bad calls against the Yankees. You would think they would get the edge since it is their stadium. Of course you never know if it affected the outcome of the game. It did affect Swisher’s numbers. What was cute was the last time, Swish was hot so Joe comes running out and Cano wraps his arm around Swish’s shoulder and drags him away. Couldn’t afford to lose a player, then Joe got thrown out.

Even though I really wanted the Yankees to sweep the Sox, (possibly out of the post season) Yankees are still number one. This Saturday will still be me and Kasey’s first trip to the post season. So I’m trying not to put too much energy into being angry about this.

~~ Questo è tutto, dice la principessa ~~ Sunday, September 25, 2011 😛

Another double-header because of the stupid freaking rain!

~~ Yankees 6, Red Sox 2 ~~

The pitchers for the first game of this double-header are Wakefield for the Red Sox and A.J. Burnett for NYY. Someone shoot me now.

Gardner and Jeter bunted, both came around to score. Then in the third inning Jorge hits a two run home run, 4-0 Yankees. And the Rays are leading in their game. Since this won’t be posted until after the game and no one is here to read it, “Please don’t melt down, implode, fall apart, or anything else. OK AJ? Please hold it together for your devoted fan (I might be the only one left).”

Oh Captain! My captain. And no, I don’t think he did touch home plate. Until he reached back and tagged AFTER he was called safe. I almost feel sorry for Tim Wakefield, almost.

Hate Ellsbury, all three hits have come off Ellsbury. If it wasn’t for him AJ would have a no-hitter. I will hate him more if he’s gets MVP instead of a Yankee.

And with that hit Derek is now hitting 300 and the Yankees lead 6-2.

Guess Big Sloppy was tired of walking. AJ doesn’t usually melt down this late in the game does he? OH NICE PLAY! Good fielding by Laird and AJ, 3-6-1 double-play.

AJ pitched into the 8th, D-Rob came in to pitch to Ellsbury, who hit two home runs off AJ, and struck him out. Then D-Rob pitched a scoreless ninth saving Mo and Soriano for tonight’s game if needed.

~~ Questo è tutto, dice la principessa ~~ Sunday September 25, 2011 😛