Tampa, FL, March 5 — Although they knew that Thursday’s game was off to a very bad start, Yankee fans didn’t realize that it was over after the ugly 24-minute top of the first. Making his first official 2009 start as the Yankees begin establishing their rotation this day, Joba Chamberlain could not harness any command of his powerful fastball, and missed the zone with 14 of his first 20 pitches. Continue reading
Author Archives: Dan McCourt
Seeing Red
Clearwater, FL, March 5 — As in life, so in baseball. There are myriad decisions to be made by a fan attending Spring Training, and this Yankee fan may have selected wisely Wednesday. We could have chosen to rise early and make the 90-minute-plus trip to Orlando to watch the Yankees/Braves. But there’s something about fleeing the frigid Northeast to fly to a peninsular state surrounded by shimmering water and bathed in dazzling sun, and then driving inland. Simply, we chose not to. Continue reading
Who’s on Short?
Tampa, FL, March 3 — There were quite a few startling differences between the two teams that assembled at George M. Steinbrenner Field to play a game Tuesday afernoon. But the most jarring thing is what the two had in common. Shortstop Derek Jeter. Continue reading
Our Season Plans
Box 601-603 gang
Our Sunday seats are right behind home plate, but we are in the absolute last row, much further from the action than we were in the old Stadium (left). In addition, they are 10 seats off the aisle, instead of the Box 603 seats we had across 161st Street, right on the aisle. As a matter of fact, there were no seats as far as 10 seats off the aisle in Box 603. Continue reading
Both Sides Now
Bronx, N.Y., November 26, 2008 — My better half and I were not enthusiastic when the Yankees shifted their Spring Training facility from Fort Lauderdale to Tampa on Florida’s West Coast in March 1996. We both had been attending this rite of March with separate sets of friends for years even before we met, and neither one of us was eager to give up our room right on the beach, the alligator-tail appetizers, or the aging stadium, buried as it was in an industrial park off route 95. Continue reading
Hit the Road, Jack
Bronx, N.Y., October 29, 2008 — Of immigrant stock, I date my family’s arrival in the United States from the day my father and his family arrived in New York in the mid-1920s. They immediately gravitated to the Bronx, arriving around the same time the House That Ruth Built opened for business. Dad fought in World War II, married Mom and had four Baby Boomer children (I’m “the baby”), and moved us into a house in New Jersey. Continue reading
Half Moon, Half Happy
Bronx, N.Y., September 21, 2008 — At the end of a full day packed with time-consuming activity, hours of circumspection, and symbolic representations of heroism and excellence, the south Bronx was treated to a dazzling view Sunday night. The half moon rose above the left field outfield facade right after Mariano Rivera had put the finishing touches on a 7-3 Yankee win. The metaphor could hardly have been more apt: Five days removed from an almost blinding harvest moon, the orb was bathed in otherwordly colors, but the fact that half the show was missing from view spoke volumes as well. Continue reading
All Hail the Captain
Bronx, N.Y., September 14, 2008 — Despite the fact that the Yanks cashed in a rollicking 8-4 victory over the Tampa Rays Sunday afternoon under steamy skies, the hot and humid weather was not the only unpleasent presence wafting over the Stadium. Alex Rodriguez was lustily booed just two innings after he homered for 100 rbi’s, and starter Carl Pavano received mostly derision after he tweaked his hip in the sixth, even though he left the game as the pitcher of record on the winning side. Further, Joe Girardi pulled Robbie Cano after he made a nice play to escape an ugly fourth inning, even if was the second baseman’s particularly lackadaisical play that set it all up. Continue reading
It Got Late Early
Bronx, N.Y., August 31, 2008 — One of the two good things that can be said about the Yankee 6-2 loss to Toronto Sunday afternoon is that for the most part it was over in the very first inning before fans had too much time to invest their dreams, screams, and hopes. Following a disturbing pattern established earlier in the week against Boston, Andy Pettitte walked one early, and the game went downhill from there. Continue reading
Pavano-Mo Dominates Jays
Bronx, N.Y., August 29, 2008 — The good news was that coming off a 16-month injury hiatus last weekend, Yankee righthander Carl Pavano had thrown well enough for a win. The bad news? “Well enough” would not be good enough vs. A.J. Burnett and the visiting Blue Jays Friday night. Continue reading