Bronx, N.Y., September 21, 2007 — The Yanks hosted the Blue Jays in the first of four Friday in the Bronx, the last regular-season night game in Yankee Stadium in the 2007 season. Following an oft-repeated script, it was a gorgeous night, and the Stadium was packed. Toronto came in after having swept the Red Sox in three at home, primarily on the strength of superb pitching. The bad news for tonight’s home team was that they brought all the great arms with them. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., September 19, 2007 — The Yanks looked to be in for an old-fashioned pitchers’ duel against the Orioles Tuesday night, until a fourth-inning offensive explosion. The only thing that exploded Wednesday was one ball off Hideki Matsui’s bat, and perhaps the blood pressure of thousands of fans. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., September 18, 2007 — Confounding “experts” both pro- and anti-Yankee, Mike Mussina turned in his best performance of the 2007 season in a 12-0 drubbing of the visiting Baltimore Orioles Tuesday night. Almost from the first pitch the cagey veteran was in control in a game that initially had the look of a pitchers’ duel. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., September 17, 2007 — There was a seasonal chill in the air Monday night as the Yankees hosted the Baltimore Orioles in the Bronx to start the last regular-season homestand of the year. The good news coming in was that the Baltimore team is struggling badly. But the Birds have dominated the Bombers this year, winning eight of 12 with six games to go. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., September 5, 2007 — Jarrod Washburn may or may not be great fun at parties, but he has one very good parlor trick. For six solid innings he convinced almost the entire Yankee lineup that they could not hit mid-to-high-eighties heat. Mixing in the occasional bender and change, the Seattle lefty knocked the collective bats out of the hands of seven Yankee hitters two-plus times through the order. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., September 4, 2007 — Yankee lawyers had better get busy finding a case in the rulebook that allows cross-species rooting, because everyone’s favorite squirrel made a reappearance on the right field foul pole Tuesday, and the offense returned with him. If the laughably biased way major league baseball has been adjudicating wayward pitches is any guide, the game is making a case for neutralizing the happy rodent as I write. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., September 2, 2007 — The Yankees’ task this last four weeks of the 2007 is simple: Play well, win every game if you can. No need to do much more minor-league player auditioning than they’ve been doing all year. After all, they had a game begun by their eighth rookie starting pitcher of the year on Saturday. The team needs to play well, and it did not do so this weekend. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., August 30, 2007 — An eerie feeling of deja vu hung over Yankee Stadium Thursday afternoon, as a Yankee starter carried a no-hitter against the Red Sox into the sixth inning for the second consecutive day. Chien-Ming Wang’s no-no attempt would last two outs longer, and his shutout finished intact, as the Yanks beat Boston 5-0 to sweep the AL East leaders in three straight. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., August 29, 2007 — In perhaps the key contest of this week’s Yankee three-gamer vs. the Red Sox, veteran Roger Clemens bested Josh Beckett, a young hard thrower who idolized the Rocket in his youth. Beckett’s hard heat dazzled at 96-97 mph, and his well-concealed, 20mph slower curve buckled knees. The Rocket got by while not throwing as hard, and he worked deep into counts, but he wouldn’t allow a hit until the top of the sixth. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., August 28, 2007 — The Red Sox and the Yankees played a very deceptive first inning in Yankee Stadium in the first of three Tuesday night. Andy Pettitte started things by retiring the visitors on seven quick pitches, just one of them off the plate. Then his teammates jumped on Daisuke Matsuzaka for a walk, a hit by pitch, two hits, and two quick runs, forcing the Japanese import to 26 throws, just half of them in the zone. As the game progressed, Matsuzaka would continue to struggle with his control, not an uncommon 2007 trend, but very little else that occurred in the first would be repeated. Continue reading →