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Wood Bats and Arm Beat Jays

Dan McCourt — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 01:57:36 +0000

Bronx, N.Y., September 3 (or 14?), 2010 — The Yankees beat the Blue Jays in the first of three Friday afternoon in a game some thought wouldn’t be played with Hurricane Earl heading up the coast toward New York. The anticipated Ivan Nova/Jose Bautista confrontation also blew over much like the hurricane did. And although the rookie righthander held the Jays to three runs with an impressive array of pitches, he began the game without

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Tying Run On

Dan McCourt — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 05:10:29 +0000

Bronx, N.Y., September 1, 2010 — The Yankees may not have cashed in their place in the 2010 postseason yet, and who could blame them, as they cling to the smallest of leads in the American League East? The team is still trying to settle on a reliable rotation, and hasn’t played with their All Star third baseman in two weeks. But up in the Grandstand, the fans are thinking playoffs, and Wednesday night we

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Long Inning, Monster Inning

Dan McCourt — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 06:07:07 +0000

Bronx, N.Y., August 30, 2010 — There have been a few things that have happened on August 30 over the years that have taken some time. But it’s hard to imagine any of them dragged on longer than the first inning of the A’s/Yankees game in the Stadium Monday night. The German siege of Leningrad in 1941 started this day, and must have taken longer, even if that seemed hard to believe as Trevor Cahill

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Forget the Zero

Dan McCourt — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 01:11:03 +0000

Bronx, N.Y., August 22, 2010 — Yankee fans and baseball enthusiasts looking to bask in the glow of Sunday’s 10-0 destruction of the Seattle Mariners in Yankee Stadium might be disappointed reading this report. As one of the Pinstriped persuasion who feels brought low by losses both big and small, and who agonizes over every pitch in a close game, I love a good old blowout as much as anyone. But if you’re looking at

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Only Takes One

Dan McCourt — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 03:45:40 +0000

Bronx, N.Y., August 21, 2010 — I felt the years melt away watching the Yanks bat against the Mariners down 2-0 in the first inning in Yankee Stadium Saturday afternoon. Derek Jeter’s bouncer up the middle deflected off southpaw Jason Vargas’s glove for an infield single and Nick Swisher flied deep to left. Mark Teixeira took a strike then fouled one off, falling behind quickly 0-2. Tex got a tiny piece of the next

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Remarkable Win

Dan McCourt — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 03:01:46 +0000

Bronx, N.Y., August 19, 2010 — In a game where the word “remarkable” could be used to describe both the Yankees’ nine-run sixth inning and a play Mark Teixeira made on Johnny Damon in foul territory down the first base line in the fourth, the pitching got off to a “remarkable” start as well. Cumulatively, of the first 10 batters in this game, eight faced an 0-2 count.

Although the stat was largely achieved via Phil

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Sweet Sixteen

Dan McCourt — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 05:52:33 +0000

Bronx, N.Y., August 17, 2010 — If you agree that during Tuesday night’s pivotal game in Yankee Stadium, CC Sabathia’s in-game stats over seven innings of nine strike outs, 114 pitches, and an era and of 2.86 were good, consider this: The era for the last 113 pitches was 1.43.

Yankee fans who had suffered through 17 scoreless innings before the team managed one score in Monday’s ninth inning on a bases loaded walk were

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Dustin, Derek and Lance

Dan McCourt — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 06:14:12 +0000

Bronx, N.Y., August 6, 2010 — On a night where Derek Jeter not only passed Babe Ruth in his hits total, but drove in three key runs as well, two relative newcomers largely carried the Yanks to a 7-2 victory over the Red Sox in Yankee Stadium. First, emergency starter Dustin Moseley proved he could more than pitch with Boston ace Josh Beckett. Then Yankee-for-a-week Lance Berkman showed a little of the bat speed the

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Victory in the Afternoon Sky

Dan McCourt — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 03:55:52 +0000

Bronx, N.Y., August 7, 2010 — The altered hours baseball games are played in the name of national TV contribute some strange effects to the experience, something Yankees and Red Sox fans will know only too well when their four-game wraparound series in Yankee Stadium concludes with a rare 2 pm start Monday afternoon. Locals will find out how well mass transit handles thousands of bodies once Sunday night’s 8 pm tilt concludes at an

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What Goes Up…

Dan McCourt — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 06:32:21 +0000

Bronx, N.Y., August 6, 2010 — “Kiss of Death,” I guess you could call it. But it was so hard to resist, just such a cool stat. The Yankee Stadium Scoreboard has been coming out with them repeatedly, like when they informed us in the bottom of the first when Derek Jeter singled past short that he had tied Babe Ruth for career base hits. No possible harm in that, I guess, unless he happens

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