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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Sometimes I hate baseball

Tonight was one of those nights. Dave Robinson’s wife had a baby today. He came in and pitched a scoreless inning, then Rafael came in and blew it. Derek hit a tying home run and Clay Rapada pitched scoreless then Derek Lowe got the loss. I personally think Soriano should have the L beside his name, at least he got a blown save by his name. However since I don’t want to talk about this I’m going to post some pictures I took after the game I went to with the kids. The game with the huge rain delay that ended around midnight. I took these pictures of the Stadium at night from the platform of the #4 train, I missed the colored lights but now I know to wait for them next time.

You gotta believe

Nick Swisher released an album, “Believe” on October 11, 2011. Last Saturday, November 19, 2011 he came to J&R Music to sign copies of the CD. I went, I bought a CD, I waited in line, I shook his hand (twice- once for hello, then again for good-bye). I also took pictures.

The store is at 23 Park Row which is downtown. I got off the subway at the Brooklyn Bridge – City Hall stop and walked past City Hall and the bridge to the store. I got there about 11:30 (the signing was at 2:00), I was rather surprised to see that the line was not very long, there were maybe 20 people waiting. The man from J&R kept coming out and saying Nick Swisher would only be signing copies of his CD, so I got out of line and bought one. Then I got back in line, by now there were about 40 people in line. Nothing to do but wait and chat to people.

The couple behind me were interesting. She was a Met’s fan, just there to keep her boyfriend/husband/partner company. He was there to get an autograph for his favorite daughter-in-law who, according to him is simply mad about Swisher. Everybody was behaving themselves. Being orderly, not blocking the sidewalk, an elderly man with a walker and “OWS” button was walking down harassing people waiting to see Swisher. A YES cameraman was there, but I don’t think he got me so I won’t be on TV.

It was cold, not freezing cold but cold and they let us come inside, I think it might have been the size of the line and so that when Swish got there they could start the signing right way. The way the line was I was at the back of the room, a straight shot up from where Swish was going to be sitting for autographs. He comes in, loud and cheerful, stands up and poses next to the sign. The whole time we were waiting the people in charge were saying, only the CD’s signed and no pictures. People were standing between the CD bins taking pictures so I walked up to get this shot. The people behind me encouraged me, saying they would hold my spot, I had already told them everything I know about Swisher including the fact that Dave Robertson is WAY CUTER. I told them, that I thought they just didn’t want people taking pictures from right in front of the table. When I got up close, I saw people getting CD’s signed, stepping back and taking a picture, so then I decided, no pictures must have meant, no pictures with Swisher. One woman was told to put her video camera away.

I took this picture right before I went up to get his autograph, its a little blurry cause I took it quickly and was a little nervous, then I went up. He stuck his hand out, asked me ‘How you doing today?’ I told him my friend had asked me to say hi, that seemed to amuse him and he said, ‘Tell her hi back!’, then as I was leaving he stuck his hand out to shake again, good-bye. He’s such a doll.

So here it is, what I waited 2.5 hours for.

Split the series

After last nights miserable loss, this game was a delight. Watching Bartolo Colon pitch I was thinking, ‘Phil better get his shit together or he’s out of a job.’ (Yeah I went there.) 6 almost perfect innings. His numbers: 6.2 innings, 5 hits, 2 runs and 7 strike outs. His ERA has come down to 3.50 and he now has 20 strike outs. He left the game with Yankees ahead and today, the bullpen did not let him down, well Pendleton almost did and Soriano ‘made things interesting’. I’m sure Joe told him, ‘Nice you got us the save, but DON’T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!’ And Soriano picks up his first save of the game.

~~Yankees 6, Blue Jays 2~~

I didn’t get to see all the game, which is why I am now watching the encore presentation, I don’t know how I’m going to manage getting up tomorrow. Anyway, when I was watching the highlights I saw two plays that made me go “WOW”. One Robbie caught the ball, tagged the runner going to 2nd and threw the ball to Mark. Robbie was so quick, in one smooth movement he caught the ball, and just kind of came forward put his arm out and got the runner. It was WOW. The second was a long fly ball to Swisher that he threw in and Mark caught, and for some reason there were two men on third base. So he ran across the diamond and tagged both of them. That was funny, Ken Singleton said, “Only one man allowed on a base in major league baseball.” Mark hit three doubles and most of the runs in this game were not by home run.

And I have a theory about why David Robertson is so cool, calm and collected when he comes in. If he comes in with bases loaded, any runs scored by those men on base are the previous pitchers responsibility. So it doesn’t count against his E.R.A. I’m not saying he doesn’t care about winning, but since it doesn’t hurt him personally, he can be a little more settled in his head and that makes it easier for him to do that magic thing with his fastball and curve.

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

Which is worse?

Losses hurt, there is no way around it. Even when there is a whole lot of baseball left to play no one wants to see their team lose. So it hurts, but what loss hurts the worse? A total blow out? Or the barely lost game, the game decided by 1 or 2 runs?

For me I have to say it not really a matter of better or worse, or maybe I should say bad or worse, it is different. While I have never been to a game where the Yankees were totally decimated, the closest I came was last year at old-timers day, when the Rays beat us 10-5. They took the lead early and never let it go, they were hitting every pitcher we put in. I remember being angry, I remember being disgusted, I remember getting a whole glass of bear spilled on me.

On a game like today’s where there is only a two run difference, I am more sad and disappointed that the boys couldn’t score more runs.

More on today’s game.

~~Rangers 5, Yankees 3~~

Today was Jackie Robinson Day all across baseball everyone wore #42, of course the Yankees have the last remaining player whose regular number is #42 and that is Mo, the greatest closer of all time. I really wanted to go today, I like going to the special days. So I got tickets, Kasey gave her regular tickets to D and he is going with Andy on Saturday.

I appear to have developed a talent for picking the shittiest days to go to the stadium. Once again it was freezing and once again we couldn’t make it for the whole game. Kasey went to buy a blanket and came back with a Yankee Snuggie. She threatened me if I put this picture on Facebook, she didn’t say anything about putting it here. She says it is a symbol of how stupid she was to not dress warmly enough for the game. Last year we sat in the bleachers and it was a nice sunny day. We have both decided that Bud Selig is an idiot.

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

If you click on this picture, it will take you to the new website honoring Jackie Robinson with video of players and managers saying what Jackie means to them.

Tied for first place

~~Yankees 7, Orioles 4~~

The Baltimore Orioles came into this game with a 6-3 record and the Yankees had a 5-4 record. Now they are tied and tomorrow is the last Baltimore vs. New York Yankee game of this series. After which they will be tied no more. And while I am making effing obvious statements, the Red Sox are in last place, in the Division, in the League and in the MLB. Right now they have the worst record in baseball. I am living in the moment, shoot me.

A.J. pitched 6-⅓ innings giving up 4 runs, and he got a nice ovation for his work and his 3^rd win of the season. D-Rob, Soriano and Mo pitched scoreless innings, this makes save No. 5 (564) for the Sandman. Yes he is the best closer in baseball.

So much for defense, offensively the Yankees scored 7 runs, two off a home run by Alex in the 1^st and one from a 5^th inning home run by Jorge. They are now tied for home runs for this season. Every Yankee except Curtis got a hit tonight. Don’t worry Curtis, Sarah still loves you, and you will turn it around.

Speaking of the Yankees, they are the winningest team. That’s not a real word, at least my spell checker doesn’t think so. If you check the numbers, they don’t have the most games won, that record goes to the the San Francisco Giants with 10,441, of course they have been around longer then the Yankees, of teams formed in 1901, the Yankees do have the most games won with 9,675, the team (of teams formed in 1901) that is number 2? No big surprise there, the Boston Red Sox.

Looking at the Win-Lose Percentage, the Yankees are again number 1 with .568, the Boston Red Sox . . . are not number 2, they are number 5 on this list. I started playing around with the numbers, I was curious if there was another stat that would correspond with the order created by the W-L%. I took the number of runs allowed and divided by the number of runs scored. The Yankees were again in 1^st place with a 0.862%, the Boston Red Sox were again #5 with 0.965%. The teams didn’t match up perfectly, but it was the closest I found. So there you have it, if you consistently score more runs then you allow, you will be a winning team.

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

Today’s game was a wash

Or I should say Saturday’s game. First off, even though it was televised, I missed it. I was sleeping. Yep, sleepy girl is back. I even woke up around 1:00 looked at the time, thought about the game, and went back to sleep. I can sleep now, when the regular season begins …..

Anyway, back to the game. First up, “Sabathia has now served up exactly five runs in each of his second spring starts for New York. The Tigers got to him for that total on March 11, 2009, in Lakeland, Fla., and the Pirates did the same last March 9 at George M. Steinbrenner Field.” CC’s second start fits developing pattern Ouch CC. When I came upstairs, after I went and got Sarah from her job, Kasey tell’s me that CC gave up 5 runs. She followed that with “Yankees would have won if he hadn’t.”

With the Nationals up 7 runs by the fourth, the Yankees scored 8 runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Gardner helps Yanks forget CC’s struggles. Gardner hit a triple and a double, Jorge Vazquez hit a two run double then was brought home by Gardner. But in the seventh inning the Nationals scored two runs, then one in the eighth. Final score was 10-8.

Montero continues to impress me with his bat and defensively. Although every time I saw that I feel a twinge of guilt about Frankie. He was in the same form he was beginning of last year and said he was feeling stronger. But still ….. Montero’s progress not only with bat Not only that, but from what he says in interviews, he has a good attitude.

“I want to be behind the plate every single time,” Montero said. “I don’t want to lose all four years I’ve been catching with the Yankees. I want to be behind the plate. I want to catch and help them win.”

and

“I haven’t played in the big leagues yet, so if I’m staying with the team, I’m going to know a lot with the veteran guys that are here, like Jorge and everybody else,” Montero said. “They’re going to teach me, and I’m going to learn real quick. That’ll be awesome for me.”

It has been said, as near as I can remember, that the Yankees are big on helping new players, leading by example, instructing etc. I have also heard it hasn’t always been that way. Progress.

5/31 NY Yankees 11 vs Cleveland Indians 2 ~ A-Rod hit a Grand Slam for Andy

2 months into the season and this is the 5th game I have been to. This was a great game to be at. It was D, Kasey and Andy. It was Andy’s first ever. I was walking around trying to find Monument Park, which I did find, after it was closed. I was following the signs and ended up in the bleachers, so I walked back to the other side of the bleachers and walked down some stairs and saw another sign for Monument Park. So followed the arrow and walked down this corridor, past the Monument Park Store, and ended up in another seating section, turned around and came back down the hallway where I finally saw the sign for Monument Park and the door with a sign saying it was closed. So I went to the store and got a blue Yankee monkey puppet for Andy. Nick pointed out today that it was made in China which means that Andy now has a Chinese Blue Monkey puppet, all this time he was really a Yankee fan. 

When I got back to the seats I attached the monkey to Andy’s neck, he was not thrilled.

Yankees took the lead early, then the Indians tied it up in the second, then in the 4th Yankees got one more run. 

It stayed that way until the 7th inning, then the bats woke up. Derek Jeter hit a single, then Curtis, Ramiro Pena came in for Derek (he got hit by a pitch in the 2nd inning) and then Mark Teixeira was intentionally walked. This is one of the reasons I like coming to games, there was a hush over the crowd, like everyone was thinking, Oh no he didn’t, and wondering if A-Rod would hit a grand slam this time. Then when he did, the crowd went absolutely nuts. Robbie was up and he hit a home run too. And we still weren’t done. Nick hit a double, Juan Miranda hit a single, Nick went to 3rd base. Frankie hit a sacrifice fly and Nicky scored. 

Yankees weren’t done. They went on to score 3 more runs in the 8th inning. Meanwhile, Andy Pettitte held the Indians to one run. Chan Ho Park pitched the 8th and 9th innings. In the 9th the Indians got one more run then Frankie got the last batter out with a throw to first.

I love going to games, no announcers, outside in the Grandstand there is shade, and the breezes never quits. And there is the energy of the crowd, the ohs and ahs and boos, (umpire made a bad call)

~~and that’s all~~ she wrote