Tampa, Fla., February 27, 2014 — It was another “one bad inning” day in Tampa on Thursday, but a good time was had by all nonetheless. Wednesday forecasts guaranteed some rain, but we awoke to a cool, partly cloudy day where sun shone on George M. Steinbrenner Field for much of the day. The only rain was what the Pirates laid on the Yankees once free agent signee Robert Coello took the mound in the eighth. Continue reading
Author Archives: Dan McCourt
Chasing History
Bradenton, Fla., February 26, 2014 — The season of 2014 Yankee Spring games, at least the ones against major league opposition, got off to a good start on Wednesday with a game vs. the Pirates in Bradenton. That the team scored two runs in both the first and second innings signifies this, but it doesn’t really describe it. New leadoff man Jacoby Ellsbury reached base three straight times, and scored twice. And the offense at the catching position the Yanks are unveiling this year had a good debut, as lefty-hitting backstop Brian McCann hit the third pitch he saw for a sharp rbi single, tellingly a bit to the left of second base. Continue reading
A Long Complete Day
Bronx, N.Y., August 31, 2013 — Up at 7:30 on a Saturday to run a few errands because we needed to catch a train 90 minutes earlier than usual for a Saturday game, it was more with a sense of exhaustion than expectation that Sue and I sat in our Yankee Stadium seats at 11:30, awaiting Yankee personnel. Sue had received the call Friday: We were invited to be interviewed on the big screen as the ticket licensees of the game. Continue reading
Summer Breeze
August 14, 20113, Bronx, N.Y. — A friend who showed up in the top of the third inning of the Wednesday evening Angels/Yankees tilt in the Stadium looked up and said, “Look. Eight the hard way!” The gambling reference may be obscure, but there is no doubt the digits on the Scoreboard were pretty startling, side by side 4’s, with the Yanks up 8-0 in the third inning. Continue reading
Home Run Havoc
August 11, 2013, Bronx, N.Y. — There were a few contrasting threads running through today’s Yankees/Tigers game. On the one hand, Andy Pettitte allowed a first-inning run for a Yankee record eighth straight time, and failed to go five innings despite throwing 100 pitches. On the other, recent Cy Young recipient Justin Verlander, despite consistently pounding 95 mph heat, was reached for four runs in the same amount of innings against a Yankee team struggling to score. Continue reading
Three on Three
August 9, 2013, Bronx, N.Y. — There were several threads running leading up to Friday night’s Tigers/Yankees game in the Bronx. The Tigers had taken a stranglehold on the AL Central thanks to to a 12-game winning streak, while the Yanks had fallen to just one game over .500 coming off a depressing 2-6 road trip that crashed and burned in a heap thanks to a three-game sweep in Comiskey Park against the last-place White Sox. Nasty weather threatened to cancel or at least mess up matters, a shame for the home side, who had Ivan Nova scheduled, coming off some great outings. Continue reading
Not Begun to Play
Bronx, N.Y., July 6, 2013 — The Yankees leapfrogged the Orioles Saturday afternoon and retook second place, even if six full games back of Boston, with their second straight one-run win. They’ve won six of six, and have largely repaid the O’s for last weekend’s Camden Yards sweep. New York may sweep the Birds in response tomorrow, but as the season goes they don’t need to. They’ve dominated Baltimore in the Bronx. Continue reading
iV-ing, Vern-ing, Vin-ning
Bronx, N.Y., July 5, 2013 — The trip the Yanks made from Minnesota back to the Bronx after Thursday’s win covered a lot more distance than the amount of miles separating the two cities would have you believe. Yes, they traversed several states and a time zone, but so much more. In the Twin Cities, they scored runs in bunches in a way they have not in more than a year, so time was one barrier they crossed. But the biggest jump of all became apparent several innings into the battle with the Orioles in Yankee Stadium Friday night. Yes, they were back in the AL East. Continue reading
Little Big Win
Bronx, N.Y., June 25, 2013 — Sunday afternoon Yankee Stadium was ready to rock to its first 2013 walkoff win, as Rickey Henderson singled hard to left center, driving in Bucky Dent and John Flaherty in the third inning so the Bombers could defeat the Clippers 2-1 in the 67th annual Old-Timers’ Game. That would be the final score, but it was not to be a walkoff, primarily because the 40-, 50-, and 60-year-old “kids” refused to stop playing, even though not one of these Classics has gone beyond three frames for decades. They played five. Continue reading
The Yankees Strike Zoil
Bronx, N.Y., June 21, 2013 — Following a dreadful road trip where their starting pitchers have slowly been given the impression that to win for the Yankees you need to hold the other team to two runs or less, the team returned home to cash in a win, only to follow that with 14 straight scoreless innings in back-to-back losses. Recent struggles had dropped them from first place in the AL East, and then from second. And a look in the rear-view mirror showed last place in the division was a mere three games away. Continue reading