Bronx, N.Y., April 6, 2007 — The trend of four-inning outings by their starters continued in the Yanks’ 6-4 loss to Baltimore in the Stadium Friday night, but at least they managed to play error-free for the first time since the season began earlier this week. Although it’s always a concern when Mike Mussina’s rest and mound schedule is affected by injury or rainout, his failed outing this time seemed more a result of the frigid conditions than any disruption in his routine. Continue reading
Author Archives: Dan McCourt
Not a Bad Start
Bronx, N.Y., April 2, 2007 — Rooting for the Joe Torre-led Yankees has been a wonderful way to spend the last 11 years, even if the team has failed to win it all for a while. And the best of the bunch in all those years was the dream 1998 season, where the Yanks won 125 games while losing just 50, a 71 percent rate of success. But after having just witnessed my 21st victory in the last 25 home openers, I’m winning this one at an 84 percent clip. Hey ’98 Yanks, “Eat my dust.” Continue reading
Old Friends
Tampa, FL, March 7 — I can’t tell you at what point this season watching and rooting for Andy Pettitte in a game will lose the sense of nostalgia and thrill at having him back. At some point, I’m sure, it will morph into the more workmanlike (though thrilling) work of pulling for the team and the guy representing them on the mound, just because that is what I do. It hasn’t happened yet for sure, and let’s just say that it took a moment to recover from the sight of Chris Denorfia’s bat head hurtling toward number 46 in the first inning of tonight’s Reds/Yankee game in Legends Field. Continue reading
Two for ‘The Show’
Winter Haven, FL, March 6 — The best news to come out of the Yanks’ first loss of the spring season, 6-5 to the Indians in Winter Haven, is perhaps the performance of Phillip Hughes in his second time out. Despite the fact that he took the loss, the second best report concerns the work of Russ Ohlendorf. The two prospects pitched the fourth through seventh innings and posted four strike outs, and should have been clear with no runs scored and just three hits. Continue reading
Then Came Bronson
Tampa, FL, March 5 — The first surprise I was confronted with as I entered Legends Field under a dazzling cloudless sky Monday was the number of front-line Tigers who had made the trip to Tampa from Lakeland. Jim Leyland pencilled the names Ivan Rodriguez, Placido Polanco, Gary Sheffield, Carlos Guillen, Brandon Inge, Sean Casey, and Curtis Granderson into his starting lineup, handed the ball to Justin Verlander to pitch the first, and used both Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney to pitch late innings to protect a slim lead. Continue reading
The Perils of Pavano
Clearwater, FL., March 4 — A lot of good things happened as the Yanks won their fourth straight spring game Saturday, 10-5 over the Phillies in Clearwater. Carl Pavano pitched two effective, though not dominant, innings. Jeff Karstens and Luis Vizcaino threw well later in the game, 18-year-old outfield prospect Jose Tabata showed some signs in left, Melky Cabrera notched his first three hits of the campaign, and Kevin Whelan posted his second save is as many appearances. Continue reading
The Kids Are Alright
Tampa, FL., March 3 — Pitching dominated over hitting yet again on Saturday in Tampa, as the Yanks needed a late three-run rally to overcome the visiting Pirates, 4-3. But while the arms dominating was business as usual, the milieu in which the game was played was anything but. Light rain fell in the morning and then again late in the game, and temps ranged in the 50s for much of the afternoon. Continue reading
Maddon Madness
St. Petersburg, FL., March 2 — The 6,500-plus fans attending the Devil Rays spring home opener vs. the Yankees in St. Petersburg today were doubly blessed, particularly the many Yankee fans among them. On the one hand the widely predicted showers coming from the north and west never arrived. And coming from the east, almost the entire starting roster of the Bombers appeared, making the brief road trip often reserved to just a handful of the frontline players. Continue reading
Take Me Out
Tampa, FL., March 1 — I felt something was missing as I took my seat in steamy Legends Field today for the opener of the 2007 Spring season. Slathered in sunscreen and clad in shorts for the first time in months, I scanned the rosters of the Yankees and the visiting Minnesota Twins, eagerly awaiting the scheduled 1:15 first pitch with pencil and scoreboard poised for action. But I was minus the reams of minor league stats and big-leagues documentation I had pored over and printed out in anticipation of the big day, because that research was in the one of my two checked bags on the flight from New York, the bag that failed to appear once we landed in Tampa. Continue reading
Winter Stadium Signs
Bronx, N.Y., January 27, 2007 — Yankee individual-game tickets go on sale Wednesday, a fact that brought to mind the annual January 2 birthday pilgrimage to Yankee Stadium I took almost four weeks ago. As anyone who has known me for any time can attest, I am convinced that minus the occurring-every-four-years February 29, my birth date is the year’s worst. Lost in the Christmas/holiday crush some years, far removed from the glorious baseball days of summer, it’s also usually the day one goes “back to school” early in life, and “back to work” afterward. Continue reading