Bronx, N.Y., June 20, 2008 — The record will read that young Reds fireballer Edinson Volquez bested veteran Yankee hurler Mike Mussina 4-2 in the Bronx Friday night, which doesn’t tell the whole story, though in a way it does. Volquez was every bit as good as his press indicated, and he did hold the Yanks to two runs through seven frames, more than enough to win. And not only that. Reds rookie first baseman Joey Votto notched three hits, and homered for the first run of the game. And on the Yankee side of the ledger, the young’uns played well too. Melky Cabrera initiated the first Yankee rally with a single, and young Robbie Cano plated the second run with a one-base hit to center in the home seventh. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 19, 2008 — Considering the fact that Wednesday night cleared beautifully after the more than one hour rain delay, it actually had a few things in common with the tight, taut battle the Yanks and Padres played Thursday afternoon. Yankee pitching disposed of 15 batters via the strike out Thursday, and 14 the night before. Although the five ground-ball outs Wednesday night seemd an awfully low number, it dipped to just four the following afternoon. Finally, despite the fact that I had to double- and triple-check my math on this, the Wednesday night marathon actually clocked in at one minute shorter than this duel in the afternoon sun. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 18, 2008 — Hardscrabble New Yorkers looked down with disgust at the not-ready-for-baseball field Wednesday night. It was a reaction quite different from that of the many San Diegans present. Denizens of the city with such ideal weather were obviously disappointed to find the tarp still on the field as the time for first pitch approached, but not in as edgy a manner as the natives. It wasn’t raining at all leading up to 7 pm, but the Yanks knew what they were doing this time. My poncho came out of the bag at 7:02. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 8, 2008 — Well, the Yankees are back over .500 again following their 6-3 victory over Kansas City Sunday afternoon in steamy Yankee Stadium. Newly recalled long man Dan Geise got the win following Joba Chamberlain, who left with one down in the fifth on the losing side of a 3-2 score. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 6, 2008 — I’ll say this for Kyle Davies, he holds a grudge well. Of course, I have no idea if the young Kansas City righty holds grudges at all really. But until Friday night, he was probably more famous, in New York at least, for having been the pitching victim of Alex Rodriguez’s 500th home run in August 2007 than anything else. Although few sensed it at the time, that he coaxed a 6-4-3 double play grounder from Rodriguez in the first inning of Friday night’s Royals/Yankees game in the Bronx became a pivotal play. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 5, 2008 — Hordes of New York fans smiled with glee, I’m sure, when they heard on their Thursday homeward commute that the Yanks had bested Toronto 9-8 in the Stadium while they toiled at work. And some of them, too, got the news that the home team was victorious on a Jason Giambi walkoff home run. But even if they were clued into the reliable reports that Jason delivered the bomb on an 0-2 pitch with two down and the Yanks one strike away from defeat, there was a lot about this game they’ll never know. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 4, 2008 — The 50,000-plus that filled Yankee Stadium Wednesday discovered the darnedest thing. The weather was cooler and damper than the night before, and the guy who took the mound is more rooted in the Yanks’ recent past than he is in their future. But these less than glowing developments notwithstanding, New York found out that the 2008 season did not end Tuesday night after all. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 3, 2008 — New York was abuzz all day Tuesday in anticipation of the first Yankee start of Joba Chamberlain, the passionate, young, hard chucker who has been hogging headlines in the back of the Yankee pen since last September. A debate has been raging whether his electric stuff could better serve the team every five days as a starter than it has in late relief. We all got our first look at start number one Tuesday. The fact that Toronto beat the Yanks 9-3 had very little to do, really, with how Joba performed. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., May 25, 2008 — It was hard not to feel confident when arriving at Yankee Stadium Sunday for the last game of the current homestand, an afternoon tilt against the Seattle Mariners. The Yanks were starting staff ace Chien-Ming Wang, the hard-throwing righty who upped his record against the Mariners in the last three-plus years to 7-0 with a 5-1 win 23 days before. Southpaw Jarrod Washburn, 2-6 with a 6-plus era this year, and a losing record against the Yankees, was to oppose him. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., May 24, 2008 — Any expert on labor law and how it affects the dead working overtime might want to get in touch with the Yankees following the team’s second straight drubbing of the Mariners Saturday afternoon. At 4:16 Jose Veras poured a breaking ball by Seattle third baseman Adrian Beltre, home plate ump Larry Vanover punched him out, and the Scoreboard trumpeted Frank Sinatra’s New York, New York. The players made for the dugout, and fans began filing out, paying no attention to the argument Beltre was making to Vanover. Ballplayers argue about called strikes all the time, don’t they? Continue reading →