November 12, 2012, Port Chester, N.Y. – It was an inscrutable moment, this past Saturday, traveling by train, then subway, to New York’s Central Park for an event. The first 50-degree-plus day in a week that represented the second straight seven-day period the city and its environs remained recovering from the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, and the first time many New Yorkers were emerging for any purpose that was more than survival-based. Why was everyone smiling at me? Continue reading
Author Archives: Dan McCourt
Mind Set on Wou
Bronx, N.Y., October 12, 2012 – What can you say after watching your team score in four of 25 innings over two days, and on the third day a guy whom you refuse to believe is the second coming of, well, name your all-time righty ace, has retired 12 of 12 through four? If you’re not feeling the panic that is gripping my fingers even now as I type this afterward, given the scene as set, you may not be a baseball fan, or, well, never mind. Continue reading
Raul Takes Us There
An ecstatic Yankee team does pretty much what the 50,000 delirious fans were doing in the 12th inning, only they had the night's hero to swarm.
What’s on Second?
Bronx, N.Y., October 2, 2012 – The only Yankee September 2012 call-up to have not yet seen action that month finally got into a game Tuesday night on October’s second day, as Francisco Cervelli crouched behind the plate to take Derek Lowe’s first pitch in the top of the 11th. In for defense once Russell Martin was pinch-run for in the eighth, and Eric Chavez had hit for Chris Stewart in the 10th, Cisco failed to corral a Lowe wild pitch in a tense 11th, but teamed with the veteran righty through two scoreless frames. Continue reading
The A-Team
Bronx, N.Y., October 1, 2012 – Even coming off a lively eight-run comeback in a 9-6 win in Toronto in their last road game of the year, fans could be forgiven for being nervous when the the Yankees took the Stadium field vs. the last place Red Sox Monday night with the division crown on the line. Running away with the AL East and the sport’s home run crown six weeks ago, their offense has become tentative and often ineffective, roughly coinciding with the loss of some key lineup stalwarts to injury. Continue reading
Lord of the Mound
Bronx, N.Y., September 21, 2012 – Despite the dramatic turnaround a five-game winning streak signified, the fanbase that filtered into Yankee Stadium Friday night to watch the team start a key series against the A’s was a trifle skeptical that the Yanks were back. The two of three against the equally struggling Rays was nice, but Toronto is in freefall, and the three-game sweep of the Jays was not to be trusted. Continue reading
Striking Outside the Limit
Bronx, N.Y., September 16, 2012 – The Yankees prevailed 6-4 over the Tampa Rays in an afternoon tilt under a gorgeous sunny sky in the Bronx on Sunday, in a game where it seemed early that the teams could have saved some time and money by giving much of their respective squads the day off. With Hiroki Kuroda pitching around a first-inning Ben Zobrist double and Matt Moore around a walk, the first nine outs of the game were recorded on strike outs, eight of them swinging. Continue reading
Big, Small, Super
September 15, Bronx, N.Y. – Riding a delayed “due to mechanical difficulty” train to Yankee Stadium for a Saturday midafternoon game on a gorgeous day in the Bronx, I read that on this day in 1776, British forces occupied New York City. Baseball fans are used to looking at years with ups and downs and, given how that year stands out in American history, I took this as a good sign. Continue reading
A Labored Win
September 1, 2012, Bronx, N.Y. – The Yankees posted a huge 4-3 win against the charging Baltimore Orioles in a steamy Stadium Saturday afternoon. The Orioles scored largely off walks early, the Yanks responded in kind late. Both teams made good plays, both bad, but the visitors made the last error, and it cost them. Continue reading
Promise Philphulled
With seats far removed from home plate and the action, fans in the left field corner grandstand established that they knew what the difference in this game would be, hard-throwing righty Phil HUUUUUUUGHES.